In Albany, New York's Hemp Pilot Program brings out potential farmers ...
Hemp Pilot Program has growing pains
New York state licenses permits for research
By Robert Downen
Updated 9:34 pm, Sunday, October 23, 2016
ALBANY — The signs at the Empire State Plaza read "hemp," with an arrow directing passersby to a nearby conference room.
Inside the doors, a middle-aged woman handed out bags of edible ground hemp seed and sample-sized bottles of a soap called "Toke," made with hemp oil among other ingredients, that features an image of a large marijuana leaf on its label.
An official of the state Department of Agriculture fielded a question posed by a local university student: Is it OK to buy hemp if it's grown on Native American reservations?
The official wasn't sure.
But that wasn't really the point of the gathering that brought out about 50 people to learn about the rules, regulations and application process for the state's Hemp Pilot Program, which allows New York to issue up to 10 permits for growers, two of which were awarded this year.
Technically, hemp and marijuana, which are derived from the same plant, are classified as a schedule 1 drug. But industrial hemp is low in THC, the chemical that gets drug users high.
"It's an extremely valuable crop, with numerous potentials" said Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Binghamton) of hemp, the plant she and others hope will soon grow in the state's Southern Tier, where land once planned for hydrofracking now sits vacant and unused.
"We're trying to not build a niche crop," Lapurdo said. "We're trying to embrace ... a new industrial crop with numerous potentials."
"The rebirth of manufacturing isn't necessarily based on widgets," she continued. "Industrial hemp can be built into a manufacturing boon for our community."
For millennia, hemp was used to make everything from rope and paper to clothing. Its modern uses also include cosmetics, nutritional supplements, biofuels, building materials and pharmaceuticals. But by the mid-20th Century, as Americans became increasingly fearful of marijuana — both publicly and legislatively — so too did they begin to fear hemp.
That all changed in 2014, when the U.S. Farm Bill officially defined hemp as distinct from marijuana, allowing states to regulate the plant for research and pilot programs.
Since then, 29 states, including New York, have passed hemp legislation and nine have established pilot programs licensing production, according to the trade group Vote Hemp.
In New York, the first industrial hemp farm — JD Farms, located in Easton, Washington County — has already started growing after the end of a decades long moratorium on the plant.
"The versatility of this crop is amazing," JD Farms co-owner Mark Justh told the Associated Press in September.
Still — and like any business attempting to grow industry from scratch, JD Farms and others must first confront a patchwork of regulations and financial hurdles in order to turn a profit.
Currently, hemp farmers are required to partner with local universities or colleges to develop an educational use for the plant in conjunction with agriculture departments. JD Farms has paired with hemp researchers at Morrisville State College.
But one of the biggest problems, Christopher Logue of the Department of Agriculture and Markets told attendees at Saturday, is that regulators, legislators and researchers alike are still very much in the dark when it comes to hemp.
Officials are "learning this as we go," he said, noting the information many have on the plant is almost 80 years old.
"There are so many research questions," Lupardo said.
Fear of hemp which comes from "not understanding the difference" between it and marijuana, Logue said.
Increasingly, though, both state and federal legislators are learning. Legislation to reform hemp has been met with bipartisan support in Congress, with high-ranking Kentucky Republicans Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul partnering with Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon.
"In my view, keeping the ban on growing hemp makes about as much sense as instituting a ban on portobello mushrooms," Wyden said, while introducing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act last year. "There's no reason to outlaw a product that's perfectly safe because of what it's related to."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
rdownen@timesunion.com • 518-454-5018 • @Robert_Downen
Source...
Hemp Pilot Program has growing pains
New York state licenses permits for research
By Robert Downen
Updated 9:34 pm, Sunday, October 23, 2016
ALBANY — The signs at the Empire State Plaza read "hemp," with an arrow directing passersby to a nearby conference room.
Inside the doors, a middle-aged woman handed out bags of edible ground hemp seed and sample-sized bottles of a soap called "Toke," made with hemp oil among other ingredients, that features an image of a large marijuana leaf on its label.
An official of the state Department of Agriculture fielded a question posed by a local university student: Is it OK to buy hemp if it's grown on Native American reservations?
The official wasn't sure.
But that wasn't really the point of the gathering that brought out about 50 people to learn about the rules, regulations and application process for the state's Hemp Pilot Program, which allows New York to issue up to 10 permits for growers, two of which were awarded this year.
Technically, hemp and marijuana, which are derived from the same plant, are classified as a schedule 1 drug. But industrial hemp is low in THC, the chemical that gets drug users high.
"It's an extremely valuable crop, with numerous potentials" said Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Binghamton) of hemp, the plant she and others hope will soon grow in the state's Southern Tier, where land once planned for hydrofracking now sits vacant and unused.
"We're trying to not build a niche crop," Lapurdo said. "We're trying to embrace ... a new industrial crop with numerous potentials."
"The rebirth of manufacturing isn't necessarily based on widgets," she continued. "Industrial hemp can be built into a manufacturing boon for our community."
For millennia, hemp was used to make everything from rope and paper to clothing. Its modern uses also include cosmetics, nutritional supplements, biofuels, building materials and pharmaceuticals. But by the mid-20th Century, as Americans became increasingly fearful of marijuana — both publicly and legislatively — so too did they begin to fear hemp.
That all changed in 2014, when the U.S. Farm Bill officially defined hemp as distinct from marijuana, allowing states to regulate the plant for research and pilot programs.
Since then, 29 states, including New York, have passed hemp legislation and nine have established pilot programs licensing production, according to the trade group Vote Hemp.
In New York, the first industrial hemp farm — JD Farms, located in Easton, Washington County — has already started growing after the end of a decades long moratorium on the plant.
"The versatility of this crop is amazing," JD Farms co-owner Mark Justh told the Associated Press in September.
Still — and like any business attempting to grow industry from scratch, JD Farms and others must first confront a patchwork of regulations and financial hurdles in order to turn a profit.
Currently, hemp farmers are required to partner with local universities or colleges to develop an educational use for the plant in conjunction with agriculture departments. JD Farms has paired with hemp researchers at Morrisville State College.
But one of the biggest problems, Christopher Logue of the Department of Agriculture and Markets told attendees at Saturday, is that regulators, legislators and researchers alike are still very much in the dark when it comes to hemp.
Officials are "learning this as we go," he said, noting the information many have on the plant is almost 80 years old.
"There are so many research questions," Lupardo said.
Fear of hemp which comes from "not understanding the difference" between it and marijuana, Logue said.
Increasingly, though, both state and federal legislators are learning. Legislation to reform hemp has been met with bipartisan support in Congress, with high-ranking Kentucky Republicans Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul partnering with Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon.
"In my view, keeping the ban on growing hemp makes about as much sense as instituting a ban on portobello mushrooms," Wyden said, while introducing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act last year. "There's no reason to outlaw a product that's perfectly safe because of what it's related to."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
rdownen@timesunion.com • 518-454-5018 • @Robert_Downen
Source...
