By Cindy Yurth

“Right now we have more than three million plants on 300 acres on the Navajo Nation,”

Karen Elsworth with the Native American Agriculture Company, which she said has been given exclusive rights by the Navajo Nation government to oversee the licensing, cultivation and processing of cannabis on the reservation.

Just to be clear, this is not marijuana we’re talking about. It’s hemp, a close relative with less than three percent of the psychoactive ingredient THC. So why would anyone want to buy it? Hemp contains cannabidiol, or CBD — a compound that has been credited with relieving everything from epileptic seizures to sleeplessness (in spite of scant scientific evidence for most of the claims).

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Based on sales in the rest of the country, the demand will be there. Americans spent $190 million on CBD products in 2017, and that was even before the 2018 Farm Bill deregulated it. Eventually, NAAC would like to lease 10,000 acres from the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry to grow hemp, but for now the company, which is headed by former Navajo Nation presidential candidate and current candidate for Congress Dineh Benally, has enlisted 29 Navajo farmers to grow test plots.

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Seeing the need for education, the company is offering a free seminar on hemp production Oct. 21, and those who decide to pursue it can follow up with a two-week training academy. Partnering with MYM nutriceuticals, Aqueous International Corp. and its parent company One World Ventures, NAAC has an exclusive contract to recruit international investors and organizations to back hemp production on the Navajo Nation.

“Because you’re a sovereign nation, you can do whatever you want,” said Ellsworth, noting that some states are taxing the industry at rates up to 47 percent, forcing growers to look for greener pastures. Labor costs also tend to be lower-than-average on the Nation. The Nation will be able to reap the benefits of hemp production through its tax structure, Ellsworth noted, adding that a portion of all Navajo Gold’s profits will go toward “helping various community programs.”

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