In the fall of 2016, Salt Creek Ranch’s hemp crop stood tall in the field. It had been a long time coming. The prior year, the farm, which pastures animals and grows vegetables, had set aside 15 acres for a larger cash crop. Being in Colorado, they’d considered marijuana, “because everybody was making money hand over fist with marijuana,” says farmer Margaret Richardson. “But when we looked into it, it really wasn’t for us.”
Instead they turned to marijuana’s cousin, hemp, a fast-growing plant
that enriches soils, sequesters carbon and calls for minimal fertilizers
and pesticides.

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