A year ago, Stratford farmer Charles Meyer was staring at his cotton and wheat fields, imagining stalks of industrial help swaying in the breeze.

He's still imagining.

A year after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have allowed farmers to grow the plant -- a non-pyschedelic relative of marijuana -- Meyer has his sights set on a new version of the legislation that on Thursday cleared the state Senate Appropriations Committee in a 9-1 vote.

Meyer's support for industrial hemp marks him as a local maverick.

When he attempted to recruit other growers to support the hemp bill, he said he got sniggers and jokes about cultivating pot.

"I'm the only advocate in the (local) farming community who has stepped forward," he said.

That's not the only way the 66-year-old deviates from the norm.

With demand for corn ethanol driving feed prices through the roof, many growers turning to corn and dairy feed products.

Meyer, eschewing alfalfa and corn, is experimenting with small plots of pistachios and pomegranates on his 3,000-acre spread.

Now he wants to try industrial hemp, a product he touts as a kind of miracle plant that can be used for everything from hand lotions to car door panels.

"Anything can be made from hemp," he said, tapping a computer monitor to emphasize the point during a recent interview.

Meyer has the sympathy of Joe Neves, the Kings County supervisor who represents the Stratford area.

"You always have to be looking for a way to survive in that dynamic industry," said Neves.

Law enforcement officials, however, have no desire to see Meyer's hemp dreams come to fruition. The see the stalks, which resemble their euphoria-inducing cousin, as a camouflage for illicit marijuana cultivation and an enforcement headache.

"It would be a whole unique set of problems, I'm sure," said Reuben Shortnacy, Corcoran police chief.

Shortnacy's views were echoed by officials at the state level involved in drug eradication officials.

Shortnacy is already unhappy with California's medical marijuana law, a 1996 ballot measure that many in law enforcement see as an invitation to more illegal marijuana use.

Meyer insists that industrial hemp has nothing to do with pot smoking and would give somebody a "splitting headache" if they tried to get high off of it.

"I don't want to have anything to do with medical marijuana people," he said.

But when it comes to industrial hemp, Meyer and medical marijuana supporters are in the same camp.

They also share a hostility to federal law that currently bans the product.

If the hemp bill becomes law, supporters have plans to bring a lawsuit against the federal government.

For now, they're waiting to see what happens to the bill as it works its way through the state legislature.

Meyer will be cheering them on.

"If we could get California to say it's OK, then a lot of people would take notice," he said.

The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3061.

(Aug. 28, 2007)