MONTPELIER – An official from the Vermont Department of Public Safety on Wednesday defended proposed new rules on medical marijuana and said fears that they will hurt hemp farmers are unfounded. Lindsay Wells, the department’s director of a program that allows some sick people to use marijuana for symptom relief, said the rules would affect […]
Hemp Farming
Colorado State University Launches Hemp Research Project
Somewhere in Northern Colorado, just starting to peek out above the corn stalks that surround it, is an often misunderstood and recently approved test crop. Colorado State University is starting to research hemp, a plant with practical uses but which is also the same species as marijuana, cannabis sativa. CSU researchers planted 17 varieties of […]
Purdue Team Spent the Summer Growing Industrial Hemp in Indiana
Some Purdue University students might have spent their summer consuming a certain plant. Ron Turco spent his summer growing it. Turco, a professor of agronomy at Purdue, and a team of researchers planted in June Indiana’s first industrial hemp in 80 years. Although derived from the same plant family, hemp contains a fraction of the THC — […]
Industrial Hemp Research Now OK in Virginia
It is now legal to grow industrial hemp in Virginia — but only for some. A new law went into effect July 1 allowing public universities to grow industrial hemp for research in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Private farms can grow hemp only with a license from the state […]
How Colorado Hemp Has Gone From Novelty to Potential Industry
The hype over hemp that erupted last year during Colorado’s first sensational flirtations with the marijuana look-alike is now starting to live up to expectations. A handful of growers in 2014 planted and harvested small-scale crops that attracted large-scale attention under hemp’s newly legal status. This year, hype is being replaced with indicators of hemp’s […]
Hemp Farmers, Marijuana Growers at Odds in Oregon
SALEM — Marijuana growers worry that Oregon’s emerging hemp industry could take the buzz out of their recreational and medicinal weed. Some lawmakers hope to clamp down on the state’s embryonic industrial hemp crop amid concerns that through cross-Âpollination hemp could harm outdoor medical marijuana grows, particularly in Southern Oregon. Hemp — a cousin of […]
A New Use For Colorado-Grown Hemp: Insulation Material
Colorado’s nascent hemp industry may get a boost from a grower’s plan to use hemp stalks for insulation. Baca County farmer Ryan Loflin said Monday he has formed a partnership with Hollis, Okla.-based Western Fibers for combining processed hemp stalks with recycled newspapers and cardboard to create wall and ceiling insulation. Hemp is genetically related […]
Kentucky Hemp Industry Is Growing and Attracting Investors
Kentucky’s hemp crop is growing and attracting new investors to the state, according to Agriculture Commissioner James Comer. At a news conference Tuesday in Lexington, Comer announced that 121 participants have been selected to grow hemp this year, including seven universities across the state. There are 36 groups and projects that will grow 1,742 acres […]
Tampa-Area Man Florida’s First Hemp “Ambassador” as Legalization Push Takes Off
TARPON SPRINGS — Bob Clayton’s first encounter with hemp was at a health food store where the fibrous plant was sold in bottles as an ideal source of protein and omega acids. At the time, he had no idea of the many uses for the tall cannabis plant, which Florida farmers are banned from growing […]
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell Wants Hemp in a Field Near You
Last May, a shipment of 250 pounds of hemp seeds left Italy destined for Kentucky as part of a pilot project made legal by the 2014 federal farm bill. Kentucky farmers had long hoped for a crop that could fill the void left by the decline of tobacco, and many thought that industrial hemp, which […]
