Chinook Meeting Friday to Discuss Creating Industrial Hemp Co-Op

CHINOOK, Mont. (NMB) – On Friday morning, a group of local producers will be hosting a meeting to discuss creating a farmer-owned industrial Hemp Cooperative here on the Hi-Line. Chuck Holman, a soil health expert who’s trying to create this co-op, says this would allow the farmers to maintain more control and have more opportunities.

“We’re hoping to get a group of 30, 40 farmers together. Talk to them about what it would take to put a farmer-owned co-op together there up on the Hi-Line, the benefits of it, and, you know, the investment. Just everything that they would need to do to do it successfully.”

Holman says that industrial hemp can be used for a wide variety of things, from food to building materials.

“You can take the seeds. You know, those, you can make hemp hearts and it’s what people put on salads and have been eating for a few years. You can press those seeds for cooking oil. The fibers, there’s oils. They produce petroleum, plastic, canvas, clothing, rope. There’s all sorts of things that you can produce with the fiber.”

The meeting starts at 10 AM Friday in the Blaine County Library Meeting Room in Chinook. For more information, contact Chuck Holman at 406-529-4119.