Country
Friday, February 15, 2019 • Edition 2
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Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Growing like a
weed
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Jaime and Nate Hultgren H make up one-third of the Hultgren Farms pa partnership between themselves, Nate’s brother, Noah, and their father, Duane. The Hultgrens farm 6,000 acres oof corn, soybeans and specialty crops like hemp (above) near Raymond.
Hultgren Farms grows industrial hemp By DANNA SABOLIK Staff Writer
RAYMOND Minnesotans are used to passing by fields of corn and soybeans in the summertime, but an unusual sight will be occupying land near Belgrade once again in 2019. Nate Hultgren of Hultgren Farms, is growing industrial hemp. When most people think of hemp, they think of marijuana, the flower of the hemp plant. The crop on the Hultgrens’ farm is a variety of the hemp plant that grows more seeds, and the flower on their plant is not what is typically used for smoking pot. Their hemp is harvested for its seeds, which are a superfood, similar in consistency and taste to
quinoa. Hultgren Farms consists of Nate, his brother, Noah and their father, Duane. They farm 6,000 acres of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, kidney beans, sweet corn and now, hemp, in Central Minnesota. “We thought we had nothing to lose,” said Nate Hultgren. “Corn and soybean projections were not showing a profit, and we as a farm see the upside to the risk of producing specialty crops.” Overall, they saw opportunity. Hultgren Farms prides itself on working with the community to create tangible goods that have real value in any economy. They looked to farming practices in Canada where growing hemp has been
This month in the
legal through government programs since the 1960s, and decided hemp was worth the risk. They carved out 40 acres of land near Belgrade that had recently come out of CRP land, so decided to keep the system organic. “Hemp doesn’t like wet feet,” Hultgren said. “So we planted it on some land near Belgrade, with sandier soil and irrigators, to regulate the amount of water. It also works fairly decent in organic systems; once the hemp is about a foot tall, it will shade out the weeds. It grows like a weed.” To plant, they used a grain drill, and for harvest a flat head attached to their combine, lifted up four feet off the ground, to catch only
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Hemp in the grain bin is dried and ready to sell. The seed is small, brown and rich in protein, fiber and healthful fatty acids, including omega-3s and omega-6s.
the seeds. If the combine takes in too much fiber, which grows around the stalk, it can create a ropy mess. “We heard horror stories of some guys having their combines start on fire because the rope would get wrapped up and get hot,” Hultgren said. “Thankfully, we didn’t have any of those issues, but
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we heeded all the warnings and kept a fire extinguisher handy.” They worked with Legacy Hemp, a contractor out of Prescott, Wisc., who agreed to purchase the crop to use as a superfood supplement
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