State seeks farmers to grow hemp as crop

Hawaii is another step closer to finding out whether industrial hemp could be a major crop.

The state Department of Agriculture announced earlier this month that it is accepting applications for state licenses to grow hemp.

This comes nearly two years after the state enacted a law to establish a pilot program for commercial production.

“Many believe that industrial hemp can be an important crop in Hawaii,” Gov. David Ige said in a statement. “This pilot program is a strong and prudent step in helping to determine the viability of this crop in Hawaii.”

About 38 states already allow or are proposing to allow industrial hemp cultivation, according to the Agriculture Department.

For Hawaii, efforts made over the past two years included establishing Act 228 in 2016, amending it last year, researching hemp farming elsewhere, testing hemp plants locally and getting federal and state drug enforcement agencies to allow hemp seed imports from China.

“In establishing this program, we had to consider many complex issues, including growing climate, seed varieties, laboratory testing, legal issues and program management,” Scott Enright, Agriculture Department director, said in a statement.

Program manager Shelley Choy explained that drug enforcement issues were complicated because hemp and marijuana are members of the same plant species, Cannabis sativa. In fact, it’s possible to grow a hemp plant with concentrations of the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that technically makes it marijuana. So the federal government treats hemp the same as marijuana, labeling it a “Schedule 1” drug just like heroin and LSD.

To be hemp, THC content must be at or below 0.3 percent. That’s about 33 percent lower than the least potent marijuana and cannot make someone high, according to the Agriculture Department.

Choy said hemp plants can produce different amounts of THC — as well as more or less biomass — depending on levels of light, nutrients and other factors. “You don’t know (the THC level) until you test it,” she said.

Under the program, licensees must have plant samples collected and tested by a laboratory certified by the state Department of Health. Other requirements include submitting reports on planting, harvesting and hemp movement. Information that can advance research, including operating costs, water use, pest management and security also is sought.

The state plans to provide multiple varieties of hemp seeds, starting with one called Yuma.

Proponents of a local hemp industry tout that parts of the plant can be used to make textiles, a building material, food like greens and tea, animal feed, biofuel and more.

“Industrial hemp is an extremely viable and multi-faceted commercial agricultural crop which could benefit and bolster our local agricultural industry and economy,” Melody Heidel, a participant in a University of Hawaii hemp research project, said in written testimony on the bill that became Act 228.

Jennifer Bright, founder of local textile and fashion company Wear on Earth who worked on a UH hemp feasibility study, sees the plant as a cash crop that could become associated with Hawaii the way pineapple once was.

“Swiss chocolate, French champagne, Egyptian cotton, Hawaiian hemp … ” she said in written testimony.

Initially, the state is making only the Yuma variety available. But others are slated to follow. Licenses are good for two years, which could allow several harvests. Licenses can be awarded quarterly starting in June, although the Agriculture Department said seed quantities may be very limited until next year.

Use of agricultural land is required to apply along with a $500 nonrefundable fee. Application information is available at hdoa.hawaii.gov/hemp.