Business

Historic Hemp Harvest held at ‘Old Sweet Springs Resort’

GAP MILLS, W.Va. -- Members of the West Virginia Farmers Cooperative had a harvest of the hemp crop at the "Old Sweet Springs Resort" at Gap Mills in Monroe County, W.Va., last Saturday

The West Virginia Farmers Cooperative welcomed a number of volunteers to the "Old Sweet Springs Resort" to help with the harvest and to learn more about hemp and its uses, said J. Morgan Leach, of Vienna, CEO of the West Virginia Farmers Cooperative.

This was the second year of legal hemp cultivation in West Virginia since World War II, licensed under the West Virginia Department of Agriculture's Industrial Hemp Pilot Program.

Don Smith II, licensed hemp farmer and president of the West Virginia Farmers Cooperative, has planted a test plot on one of America's oldest resorts in Gap Mills in the southern part of the state. Hemp is grown for seed, oil, fiber and root that produce many different products.

Old Sweet was designed in part by hemp farmer Thomas Jefferson, the state organization noted.

Old Sweet's fame came from its reported healing waters and attracted city dwellers from Washington, D.C., according to a press release from the West Virginia Farmers Cooperative.

They would make the trip to the area by train and buggy. Doctors claimed the water cured everything from arthritis to depression.

Modern age hemp farmers are now looking for synergistic ways to create new business on this old resort and help to diversify West Virginia's economy with a new cash crop, said Smith.

Leach said there are 14 license holders who can harvest industrial hemp within the West Virginia farmers cooperative. Leach and Robby Kerr, of Parkersburg, are the co-owners of Hemp Picks in the Point Park Marketplace.

"This has been an amazing opportunity to explore new potential with hemp operations in underutilized areas across West Virginia. We are incredibly pleased to be growing hemp at Old Sweet," said Smith. "The historical significance of this crop needs to be more understood and this is a great opportunity to learn about our heritage with hemp."

For more information about growing hemp in West Virginia, visit wvhemp.org.