The Hawai‘i House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill legalizing the growing, processing, and sale of industrial hemp in Hawai‘i.
It passed the Senate on Wednesday unanimously, with Senators Les Ihara, Clarence K. Nishihara, and Laura H. Thielen expressing reservations. The legislation now goes to Governor David Ige to sign into law.
Hemp breeding is big business, and as such, companies who invest in breeding programs are also investing in protections.
With the hemp boom upon us, plant scientists have turned their attention to creating new and innovative hemp cultivars. The focus is on varieties for specific climates, special disease or environmental resistance, or unique cannabinoid profiles.
One Upstate county welcomes the hemp industry as a way to reinvigorate its economy.
Nestled near the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers in Upstate New York, the city of Binghamton and the surrounding county, Broome, was always a hotbed of agriculture and manufacturing. From the rivers to railroads to highways, the area has been at the hub of transportation networks and grew steadily through the 20th century.
While there are more U.S. farmers this year who are licensed to grow hemp, total hemp acreage is down 9% from 2019.
Hemp cultivation acreage in the U.S. has fallen 9 percent since 2019 but the number of entities and individuals licensed in their state to grow the crop rose 27 percent, according to a Hemp Industry Daily report. As of June 18, there were 465,787 total licensed hemp acres for the 2020 season, compared to 511,442 last year.
The state’s growers are sitting on a pile of surplus from the 2019 season, while they desperately wait for rules to guide the industry going forward.
For New York’s hemp industry, it’s almost as if 2020 is turning out to be the year that never was.
In many ways, 2019 was a boon for New York’s hemp farmers. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp, or low-THC cannabis, and the market for hemp-derived products exploded across the state.
State Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is reviewing a proposal for South Dakota’s industrial hemp program before it goes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for clearance.
That’s according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture. JaCee Aaseth said USDA will then have up to 60 days to look over South Dakota’s plan and decide whether it can proceed.
State lawmakers wrote the law so it could take effect immediately after receiving the governor’s signature. The hope by some was that farmers could plant by July, but that now seems off the table.
Researchers in the U.S. state of Florida are studying how hemp plants could help in the battle against toxic algae, a persistent problem at the state’s two coasts.
Steven Edmonds, founder of Hemp4Water and a political science instructor at Valencia College in Orlando, has teamed up with researchers from Florida State College on the initiative. The group said it will test grow hemp mats in Florida waterways to check their potential to clear nutrient pollution that feeds toxic blue-green algae and red tide algae.
Hemp businesses are unlikely to receive coronavirus assistance from the USDA as the sector hasn’t suffered a 5% decline in prices.
Exactly why pollinators are attracted to hemp isn’t entirely understood, but at least one thing is clear: it’s not because they’re getting high.
Not only does hemp contain minuscule amounts of THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, but insect brains don’t have the receptors affected by the substance.
In fact, pollinators take little interest in the female cannabis flower, which is cultivated for THC in marijuana and cannabidiol, or CBD, in hemp.
Hemp plants in a hurry? There’s a hack for that.
Hemp can get off to a stronger and faster start in farmers’ fields if it’s been properly germinated or rooted as young plants, greenhouse operators say.
