EATON, N.Y.—A lush field of cannabis growing on a secluded hilltop in central New York may look and smell like marijuana, but its myriad uses don’t include getting high.
New York’s first legal hemp farm in decades has taken root under a pilot program that’s part of a national resurgence of a plant that’s prized for making food, clothing, and shelter, but long banned along with its smokable cousin.
“The versatility of this crop is amazing,” said JD Farms co-owner Mark Justh, who left an international finance career to grow organic hay and pastured beef cattle and pigs on farmland 170 miles northwest of New York City. He added organic hemp to the mix this summer under a research partnership with Morrisville State College.
Because of its resemblance to marijuana, the hemp field at JD Farms had a prominent “No Trespassing” sign that advises “No THC.” Even if marijuana plants were hidden among the hemp, cross-pollination would render the pot impotent.
Hemp has been used for millennia as a source of oil, protein, and fiber used in clothing, rope, and paper. Modern uses include cosmetics, nutritional supplements, biofuels, building materials, and pharmaceuticals.
Justh was thinking of growing it simply as a cover crop—a crop grown for soil enrichment—when he met Dan Dolgin, who was looking to partner with a farmer to grow it for its broad market potential. Dolgin, who had worked in national security in Washington, fell in love with the farm and bought into it. He’s now renovating a farmhouse there near the log cabin where Justh and his wife and teenage sons live when they’re not at their home in Brooklyn’s Park Slope.
