On Thursday, a state committee in Ohio voted to allow farmers to grow hemp on their land by the end of January.
According to the approved hemp regulations by the Department of Agriculture in Ohio, farmers would be allowed to grow a minimum of 1,000 plants on a quarter acre. The farmers are also required to pay an application fee of $100 for a hemp cultivation license and an additional fee of $500 for each cultivation location.
The executive director of the Ohio hemp program, David Miran, said that his office received complaints about the 1,000 minimum plants being too much, but he said that the state’s hemp program requirements were benchmarked from other states where hemp is legal.
Miran further said that having a minimum number of plants strengthens the goal of the program. Besides, the requirement assists law enforcement officials in differentiating between legal hemp and illegal cannabis.
The state’s legislature legalized hemp production in 2019. Hemp can be used in the production of CBD products, among hundreds or even thousands of other products. The Department of Agriculture in Ohio was given a six months’ window to establish hemp cultivation rules.
Some of the farmers within the state are eager to take advantage of the new crop. The founder of the Ohio Hemp Farmers Cooperative, Julie Doran, said that she is planning on planting about five acres of the crop on her farm based in New Albany.
Doran also noted that farmers are interested in the crop because, during the Ohio Hemp Farmers Cooperative meeting held at the Pickaway County fairgrounds earlier this year, nearly 500 people were in attendance and learned a lot to get started growing the crop.
Doran further said that between trade wars and crop exportation, farmers in the U.S. took a huge hit, and she believes that hemp will be of great help to Ohio farmers’ recovery.
She also noted that most of the hemp crops grown in Ohio would be used for the production of CBD products because the market for industrial hemp used in the production of textile, house building materials, and paper has a long way to go before demand can rise to the point of sustaining the farmers.
Hemp can be a challenging crop to grow, and she feels that farmers who are used to growing farm produce might be best suited to cultivate hemp. She also advised the farmers to start with a small hemp crop since it’s been decades since they grew hemp within the state.
Since the CBD oil was legalized this year, its market has been booming, and several stores have opened up to sell the product.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, since hemp was federally reclassified from a scheduled substance to an agricultural product in the U.S., 47 other states have enacted legislation for hemp production.
Industry watchers assert that hemp companies, such as Dama Financial and MCTC Holdings Inc. (OTC: MCTC), are glad that the way has been opened for Ohio farmers to have hemp as an option when they are planning what to grow this year and beyond.
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