Marijuana Business Magazine

H emp farmers are thousands of years behind – meaning they’re just starting to develop strategies to fight pests and disease that other crops were bred to resist mil- lennia ago. Just like marijuana growers, hemp producers suffer from a lack of agronomic expertise and pest-management options. So when hemp crops are attacked by leaf-chewing corn earworms – or hemp greenhouses get a white mold infestation – publicly funded horticulture advisers usually know little about the crop or won’t offer assis- tance. And hemp growers in most places can’t use pesticides because of federal regulations. Standing in front of a plot of scraggly, weed- choked hemp recently at a research farm owned by the University of Kentucky, soil scientist Robert Pearce said that hemp growers are des- perate for pest-control help but don’t have a lot of options. by Kristen Nichols How hemp growers can combat weeds, insects and disease PESTER¬NG the November / December 2017 • Marijuana Business Magazine • 47