17,000 pounds of hemp from Fresno is being moved across state lines — and it’s totally legal

Ten of thousands of pounds of hemp left Fresno on Tuesday, bound for Denver on the Union Pacific Railroad.

And while it may seem insignificant, the implications are profound.

The shipment, from the Fresno-based company Golden Gate Hemp, will be the first hemp to cross state lines by train legally since the prohibition of the plant in 1937.

“We’ve always been obsessed with trains and and so it’s really cool,” said Jeff Friedland, co-founder and CEO of the company, which operates several production facilities with access to more than 10,000 acres of farmland in Fresno County.

Industrial hemp — most notably used to make CBD products, but also everything from paper to biodegradable plastics and clothing fibers — has been legal in California since 2016, but the legal opening for Tuesday’s shipment started with passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, specifically section 10113, which permitted the transportation of hemp across state borders.

Golden State Hemp already ships millions of pounds of hemp across the county.

Right now, that is mostly done by truck, which can be problematic in states that prohibit hemp cultivation.

In 2019, a truck carrying hemp from Oregon to Colorado was seized by law enforcement in Idaho, in a case that was appealed to the Ninth Circuit court.

Golden State Hemp has also had trucks stopped and seized, Friedland said. It’s costly and time consuming to get the product returned, if it hasn’t been ruined completely.

Trains can travel faster without the dangers of being stopped by police.

They are also a cheaper, more efficient and a more carbon friendly mode of transport, he said.

It took a while to find a rail company willing to move hemp, because of the stigma of being associated with cannabis. Ultimately, Union Pacific came on board because “they recognized the opportunity in this as well,” Friedland said.

The company plans to shift the majority of its transportation to rail in the next few years and is looking to create a series of strategic hubs into the Midwest and eventually to the East Coast. Those locations would have rail service attached to their buildings.

“That’s where we are heading,” Friedland said.

“It’s really the start of a new era.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.