Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have announced a plan to research industrial hemp and the best practices for growing it.
The 2018 Farm Bill made it legal for the first time in decades to grow and sell industrial hemp. For the growing season of 2019 more than 1,400 people applied to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection to grow the crop.
“There's a lot of excitement out there,” said Rodrigo Werle, the project leader and UW-Madison assistant professor of agronomy. “Everything is happening really fast, it's an old crop that became new again, times are really tough for growers out there so everybody is looking for an opportunity.”
Wisconsin used to be one of the country's top producers of hemp before legal production ended in the late 1930's. Since then very little work has been done developing practices for growing the crop in Wisconsin.
“I think the lack of research and the lack of peer reviewed research in the last 50/60 has really been detrimental to how successful industrial hemp is right now,” said Shelby Ellison, a plant geneticist and honorary associate with the UW Department of Horticulture.
The project is a partnership between UW Extension and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. More than 20 researchers are working on the year-long project. The two branches of UW have secured more than $30,000 in grant funding for it.
They plan to focus on three main areas: research, extension, and teaching. The research aspect will look into best practices for growing industrial hemp both for grain or fiber and for CBD — a product used for medical purposes.
The researchers want to look into the most effective way to grow hemp without going over the legal threshold of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC — the part of marijuana that causes a high.
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