Pretoria Fields Collective still standing as second hemp season kicks off

ALBANY — There are myriad reasons the Pretoria Fields Collective’s hemp extraction facility is pretty much a “last man standing” when it comes to this year’s growing season.

You can start with COVID-19 and pretty much work your way back from there, Dr. Tripp Morgan, the collective’s CEO said after dispelling rumors that Pretoria Fields’ hemp arm had been “caught” growing “actual marijuana” and had to “burn massive amounts of the crop planted on land in Dougherty County.”

“That’s not true at all,” Morgan said. “A couple of the farmers who we were partners with had some hot spots in some of their fields where THC levels got too high, and they had to burn a few plants. But it was nothing excessive, and it was not some secret plan to ‘sneak’ in marijuana plants with the hemp. You don’t control the genetics of every plant you grow.”

While most of the farmers who grew hemp last year and signed on with Pretoria Fields as their extractor (as required by law) during the first growing season after Georgia’s legislature legalized the plant “did pretty well” and have already gotten their cannabis plants in the ground for the second season, a series of events combined to drive many out of the business, at least for the short-term.

“For one thing, when it got to July and August last year, there was a lot more oil produced than there was people buying it,” Morgan, a multifaceted businessman who is a vascular surgeon by trade, said. “Producers were still using 2018 biomass and oil, even as we harvested the new crop.

“With COVID, a lot of extractors in the state went out of business. As far as I know, of the six in the state last year, we’re the only one left. But because farming is cyclical, I expect several of them to come back. It’s like here in south Georgia, we grow corn, cotton peanuts … and we grow these crops despite the price, despite the yield, despite the weather.”

In addition to the rumor of massive burning of “marijuana” plants in his own 10-acre hemp plot, Morgan said he’d also heard rumors that his extraction facility had “shut down.”

“We’ve just stopped extraction; we’re not shut down,” he said. “There’s just a glut of oil out there now, so we’ll wait until things pick up, which they are starting to do.”

Morgan said the collective had around 50 farmers sign up to use Pretoria Fields as their extractor last year, and 30 or so returned this year. Most have already planted their crops for 2021 and will harvest some time around September.

“We learned a lot last year,” he said. “We learned functional things. We learned a lesson in contracting; we’re going to toll (or per-pound) processing that puts us in more of a partnership with our farmers, and we learned more about getting the crops in the fields. We learned about the diseases that will have the most impact on our crops, which are organically grown.”

Most of the farmers who processed their hemp crop through the collective averaged around 1,000 pounds of product per acre, while Morgan said he averaged around 1,500 to 2,000 pounds an acre. The collective, as do most farmers, grows its hemp plants like tomatoes, in raised beds, under plastic, utilizing drip irrigation.

While many of the dabblers, called “hobby farmers” by Morgan, have already or will eventually fall by the wayside, he says that, as far as he’s concerned, hemp is a viable plant.

“Sure, there’s a glut right now, but it will eventually be weeded out,” Morgan said. “When retail starts to come back — and it has started — the need for the hemp will come back. And, let’s be honest, many people are looking at the cannabis plant with an eye on legalization. The government does not recognize a ‘marijuana’ plant; like hemp, it’s a cannabis plant. The only stipulation is that your hemp plants can’t contain more than .3 percent THC.

“But the genius of this plant is in its multiple uses. It’s seed is a source of protein; its fiber produces a stronger concrete, and its biomass can be made into a biodegradable plastic that is gone in 3 months where typical plastic will last for years. And this year Cafe Campesino in Americus is going to use the roots of our plants to make a coffee … shout out to (CEO) Tripp Pomeroy for their sustainability efforts. Growing hemp, though, is not about the weed — and I have nothing against that. We’re only now starting to understand the evolution of this plant and all its uses.”

Staff Photo: Tara DyerStaff Photo: Tara Dyer

Staff Photo: Tara Dyer