Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock,
(806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu
Texas A&M AgriLife staff have received hundreds of inquiries about industrial hemp. Like you, we will be watching closely to see if the required federal rules and a State of Texas plan are in place soon enough to readily permit 2020 production.
Texas A&M AgriLife has updated one article and released three new documents that are intended to help producers cut through all the information they hear.
These four documents are:
- Industrial Hemp Farming & Common Questions for Texas—Part 1. First, Texas Legislative Approval is Required (updated slightly from March 2019).
- Industrial Hemp Farming & Common Questions for Texas—Part 2. What’s Next? Major Questions for a Texas Hemp Industry. (We currently view this document as the most critical.)
- Industrial Hemp Farming & Common Questions for Texas—Part 3. Critical Questions about Farming the Hemp Plant. (This document asks over 100 questions about farming hemp that we will need answers to for assistance with their decision making and actual farming.)
- Industrial Hemp Farming & Common Questions for Texas—Part 4. What can I learn from prospective hemp grower meetings?
The documents have been posted on a temporary webpage, https://lubbock.tamu.edu/programs/crops/hemp/ Once there is a systemwide AgriLife webpage for hemp, these documents will be moved there.
Here are some of the questions posed in Part 2:
- How long until hemp guidelines are issued for Texas and license applications can begin?
- How can I best sort through the common “hemp hype,” especially for CBD oil?
- Are there major financial risks to CBD production if acres are greatly expanded?
- Can CBD be manufactured synthetically, and is this a potential threat to the CBD oil hemp industry?
- What agronomic and per-acre yield potential information is available to prospective hemp farmers and processors?
- What is the status of potential crop insurance?
- How will hemp production with its level of regulations compare to growing other major or alternative Texas crops?
- Is all the hype surrounding hemp, especially for CBD oil, just like the Texas emu fiasco in the late 1980s and early 1990s?
- Will herbicides, fungicides and insecticides be readily available for hemp production?
- What resources are available for learning about how to grow industrial hemp where legally approved?
Other documents will be added to the series. These may include details about the application and permitting process, safeguarding contracts, and hemp budgeting.
I look forward to working with each of you on this important topic. Companies and those with investment or research interests should share inquiries with Dr. Larry Redmon, 979.845.3041, l-redmon@tamu.edu He is serving as the Texas A&M AgriLife state hemp program coordinator.
