California firm sues Morgan County farm over hemp seed dispute

WIGGINS, Colo. — Exotic Canopy Solutions LLC, a California-based hemp grower, is suing a Fort Morgan farming operation over claims that Eastern Colorado Hemp Operations Inc. and Curnativ Farms LLC failed to meet contractual obligations to supply four million hemp seeds.

ECHO, based in Wiggins, was contracted in January to supply seeds for ECS’ Hempress 3 strain of hemp plant, according to a complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Denver.

ECHO representatives, the complaint claims, misrepresented their “experience growing hemp and the availability of its greenhouses for growing ECS’s crop. As a result of ECHO’s failure to follow industry standard practices, the seed crop was blighted by mildew and had a high dormancy rate.”  Furthermore, the seeds tested positive for mold and heavy metals.

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The Colorado farmers’ “incompetence led to a late harvest” for Exotic Canopy, court documents allege. 

Under the contract, ECS agreed to pay ECHO $50,000 upfront for working capital, and ECHO pledged to devote four greenhouses solely for the production of Hempress 3 seeds. 

ECS’ complaint claims that in April the firm learned ECHO had sold one of those four greenhouses to another user and only one of the remaining three was climate controlled.

Mildew formed on the seeds grown in the non-climate-controlled greenhouses, court documents allege. 

ECHO failed to meet a deadline of June 12 to provide seeds that met standards established by the contract, ECS attorneys argue. 

“ECHO has refused to accept that a crop failure has occurred — despite clear evidence

to the contrary — and has demanded monetary compensation before agreeing to deliver the seed crop to ECS,” the complaint said. 

ECS claims the value of the four million seeds ECHO was to deliver is more than $3.4 million.

The suit demands the repayment of the $50,000 upfront payment; a payment of $10,200,906.20, three times the value of the seed crop owed; and just over $3.4 million in compensatory, punitive damages.

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