Tag: Montana

Hemp Water Wars Won: Montana Hemp Farmer Earns Right To Irrigate

A water bird flies over the blue waters of Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Montana, seen from the rocky and grassy shore. The blue sky is partly cloudy.

Montana Hemp Farmer Kim Phillips won the right to irrigate her crops using water from the Canyon Ferry Reservoir. (Flickr / Mark Holloway, CC-BY license)

October 17, 2018

Kit

Hemp Water Wars Won: Montana Hemp Farmer Earns Right To Irrigate

Posted in Hemp Magazine, and Journalism

In late May, Montana hemp farmer Kim Phillips finally learned that her long struggle with the federal government was over: She had won the right to irrigate her crops with federal water.

“They tried every which way to stop it, but I lucked out and would not back down,” Phillips said.

On May 31, the Federal Bureau of Reclamation informed Phillips that they would allow her access to federal water for use on her hemp fields. The news came just in time, as hemp growing season was right around the corner.

Legal Growers Fight Federal Government Over Water For Hemp Crops

Legal farmers in the West are struggling with the Federal government over access to water for hemp crops.

A dusty, rusting irrigation pipe sits in a field under a cloudy sky. Legal farmers in the West are struggling with the Federal government over access to water for hemp crops. (Pixabay / distel2610, public domain)

May 10, 2018

Kit

Legal Growers Fight Federal Government Over Water For Hemp Crops

Posted in Hemp Magazine, and Journalism

“TECHNICALLY, NO ONE’S EVER denied me the water,” says hemp farmer Kim Phillips, with a laugh.

Legally, Phillips can grow hemp on her 75-acre farm in Montana’s Helena Valley, but whether she can water her crops is another matter.

Phillips is at the center of a dispute that highlights the legal gray area around hemp farming in the United States. The water source she can access from her property is a federally regulated irrigation district controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal organization that manages water projects in America’s 17 westernmost states. Although Phillips has followed Montana’s strict hemp regulations, the Bureau of Reclamation didn’t respond to her request for water in time for her to irrigate the crops she planted last year. Her field languished and died.