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or fiber will be raised from different seed varieties, and it will be grown differently. Hemp grown for CBD oil is well spaced in wide rows so that each plant becomes bushy. e goal is for the purchased seed to produce female plants and no males. e top part of the plant that contains the flowers and leaves is the part of the plant that is harvested as biomass. For the 2020 growing season three farmers in North Central Montana have contracted with MFDG for a total of 428 acres. eir goal is two million pounds biomass. Nathan Keane of Big Sandy and Tim Johnson of Duon will raise the hemp on dryland while Kelly Lenington of Fort Benton will be growing it on irrigated land. "I had been watching several neighbors raise hemp, so I was ready to try it myself. I contracted with MFDG because it was affiliated with the Tyson Ranch that already had the supply chain in motion," said Lenington. "Plus, they were willing to pay well." e farmer will know that it's time to harvest when inspection reports show that the CBD is about 10%-12%. As the plant continues to grow, the CBD content increases but so does the THC, so it is necessary to harvest before the THC increases beyond .3%. MFDG has selected the seed variety for the three farmers to raise, and the company will also provide the specialty equipment. e seed will be sown with a MFDG provided planter, much like a corn planter. Since no herbicides can be used, weeding requires vigilance and use of tillers on provided tractors used early in the growing cycle to make certain that weeds don't take hold. e farmer must also be aentive as to whether male plants pop up in the fields. To prevent pollination leading to the production of seed, the farmer must remove and destroy the male plants. e plant likes sunshine and grows at a fast rate. When the hemp is ready to harvest, a harvester that has a modified stripper header is used. en a baler compresses air out of the biomass with a bag that becomes the covering for each bale. MFDG will send a truck with a flat-bed trailer to pick up the bales at the farm and transport them to the extraction facility. e farmer's responsibility for the crop is completed when the truck leaves the farm. MFDG looks for new markets and maintains relationships with ones it already has. Its largest buyer, TR Processing, a division of e Ranch Companies, has developed a state-of- the-art cannabidiol (CBD) processing facility in Tennessee. is facility has the comprehensive expertise to extract raw farm406 18 This Kubota tractor owned by MFDG has a tiller which helps to manage weeds in the organic hemp fields. MFDG finds that it's vital to contract hemp that will be raised on fertile land.

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