Hemp Seed Availability

Hemp Seed Availability

Hemp Seed Availability. I'm Greg Martin with Colorado Ag Today.

Hemp is a form of cannabis but it has a an almost infinite amount of uses and it's relatively easy to grow. Even though it's a relative of marijuana it has a lower THC, yet it still is classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic and banned by the federal government so getting seeds to grow has been very difficult. Mitch Yergert ,CDA Plants Division Director says they have made some headway there.

YERGERT: We've been working to try and get seed in Colorado here since it's legal to produce but of course to bring seed in from out of the country you have to get a DEA permit. So we had gotten a DEA registration which is the first step towards getting an import permit last year about mid summer but that was too late to bring in any seed for last year. And so this year we are working with Colorado State University and they sent us a list of the seed they would like to try that they think would be appropriate for Colorado and so we applied to the DEA and they gave us an import permit.

Yerget says it's only a small amount of seed that CSU can use to test.

YERGERT: To determine what are the best varieties for Colorado so this is kind of an initial step. There'll be a number of varieties and they'll evaluate them for agronomic characteristics here with our growing environment then based upon that we can take another step next year and maybe bring in the ones that did well this year and the goal is to have a certified seeds program.

And that's Colorado Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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