Until federal tax legislation in the 1930s effectively put an end to its production in the United States industrial hemp fields used to be common across some parts of the country. It was a commodity grown at scale for use as feed & fiber.
In 2014 a Federal Farm Bill Act included language that authorized some pilot projects across the country to begin growing it again, and in 2017 Florida lawmakers passed legislation that allowed University of Florida and Florida A&M to begin doing research on the crop.
Now, the UF/IFAS Industrial Hemp Pilot Project is approaching its two-year mark with plants in the ground. University researchers have been experimenting with different varieties to determine whether industrial hemp — which is an extremely low THC variety of cannabis sativa — might have a future as a cash crop in Florida. We spoke with the pilot project’s Lead Oversight Manager to get an update.
GUEST:
Jerry Fankhauser, Assistant Director of the UF/IFAS Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and Lead Oversight Manager of UF/IFAS Industrial Hemp Pilot Project.
