Some Moriches community members say a neighboring farm isn't being very neighborly.

Brian Baker says a strong smell of marijuana started early this summer in his Moriches community.

“The odor was so bad that us neighbors questioned each other, like ‘what's happening — you guys doing something over there?"’ says Baker.

The smell was hemp being grown across the street at a farm.

Route 27 Hemp Yard is one of about a dozen farms on Long Island that got state approval to grow hemp.

Although it has the same smell as marijuana, it doesn't have the same effects in terms of producing a high.

The buds from the plants are used to make CBD lotions and ointments.

Ryan Andoos is co-owner of the Route 27 Hemp Yard.

“It's just such a new crop that people aren't educated on it,” he says.

Andoos says while there's no way to alleviate the smell, it's only for a few months when the plant is maturing. And he says hemp has lots of benefits to both the environment and to people.

“There's a misconception with hemp. Everyone assumes it's marijuana because of the smell. I think they just need to have a conversation maybe with the rest of their family to take that stigma off of it,” he says.

A spokesman for the state DEC says it's received complaints from neighbors but that the farm is complying with its license and there's nothing it can do to force the farm to reduce odors.