Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumWith Feds' Blessing, Minnesota to Try Growing Hemp
The Minnesota Legislature last year ordered the state agriculture department to set up an industrial hemp pilot project. It's been a challenge because the federal government lists hemp as a controlled substance, an illegal drug.
The DEA permit was a "big step in the process," said Geir Friisoe, director of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's plant protection division.
Friisoe said he's working on a request for proposals so people can contract with the state to grow hemp test plots, although they'll still need a permit to import hemp seeds from Canada.
"My hope is that we will have a few acres planted in Minnesota in 2016," Friisoe said. "I think just given some of the challenges we've had I think that's a good start to getting this off the ground."
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/03/01/minnesota-gets-federal-ok-to-try-growing-hemp
The hemp industry is also closely regulated.
For example, the limit in hemp plants for THC, the chemical that causes the marijuana high, is 0.3 percent of the weight of leaves and flowers. By comparison, marijuana plants often have a THC level of 5 percent or higher
revbones
(3,660 posts)in her opposition to legalizing marijuana and so forth.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)for Rope and Twine. Our Family raised Hemp in North Western Wisconsin and the harvest was sent to a Minnesota State owned Rope and Twin mill at the State Prison in Stillwater Minnesota. Believe it closed down around 1955 or shortly after. All the machinery was sent to Mexico after the shutdown.
Lodestar
(2,388 posts)Is Minnesota the best climate for growing hemp?
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Bio-Mas Ethanol Plant in the Granite Falls Area? Believe their Feed Stock is Alfalfa,that is pricey. Hemp is dirt cheap and renewable,as well as it does not need fertilizer. And the down stream products from Hemp is off the wall. Clothing,body oils,medical additives,food additives,and like I say dirt cheap to produce. Irony,the THC level is so darn low you would have to smoke a truck load just to get a head ache.