Source: Casey Mann, CHATHAM NEWS RECORD, 7/12/19


Editor’s note: Four years after North Carolina legalized the production and sale of industrial hemp, actions by legislators in the N.C. House Agriculture Committee may strike a blow to one of the state’s fastest-growing industries. The uncertainty has local hemp farmers, and others in the industry, concerned. Here’s one local farm’s story.

Just south of the Chatham County line, at Gary Thomas Farms, you just might see a new plant cropping up.Since 1973, Gary Thomas Sr. has been building his family farm’s business to 2,500 acres. In the beginning, the farm’s cash crop was tobacco, but over the years the farm — which is still managed by Gary and his children — has added asparagus, greenhouse tomatoes, strawberries, onions, squash, sweet potatoes and more.

For more of this story, click here.