A plot of industrial hemp at a farmfest organized in Gilfillan Estate, Minnesota drew the attention of most of the farmers in attendance. Many wanted to see for themselves the plants that will be available for commercial cultivation starting in 2020.
The farmfest, which was held on Tuesday, also attracted hundreds of hemp-related businesses which wanted to showcase what they have to offer the people in the state.
With hemp cultivation now legal in Minnesota, about 310 hemp cultivation licenses had so far been issued by the Department of Agriculture as of July. These licenses are for hemp to be grown on more than 8,000 acres, and as more applications are processed, the total acreage could balloon.
This all started with the 2014 Farm Act passed by Congress. That law allowed states to run pilot programs to test out how hemp could be grown as a commercial crop. In 2015, Minnesota passed its own version of the federal law and farmers started getting licensed to grow limited amounts of the crop.
The people who have obtained this year’s license are operating under a new law after the 2018 Farm Act classified hemp as an agricultural commodity overseen by the Department of Agriculture.
The commercial program in Minnesota will officially start next year and farmers are already being licensed so that they can prepare in time. To obtain those licenses, farmers had to submit research proposals as well as the locations where they plan to grow their hemp crop.
The farmers also had to be subjected to a criminal background check as well as paying the license fees levied.
When the cultivation season ends, all the licensed farmers are expected to report their findings in areas like agronomic issues, processing and marketing. Minnesota Department of Agriculture inspectors will also sample the field within 30 days from the time the crop is harvested.
Additionally, samples of the hemp harvested from each field will be submitted to the state for testing to ascertain that the THC content doesn’t exceed the 0.3 percent cap for industrial hemp.
Hemp growers and processors in Minnesota hope to cash in on the huge appeal and potential that the hemp industry is currently enjoying. Many farmers have already entered into cultivation contracts with two Canadian hemp processing companies as well as one from Wisconsin. These contracts are for grain which can be processed to give hempseed oil or ground for use as a food ingredient, among other uses.
Hemp industry watchers believe industry participants like VPR Brands LP (OTC: VPRB) and Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN) (OTCQB: WLDFF) are glad that the hemp industry is taking shape in different states across the U.S.
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