Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have obtained a permit to begin doing tests on growing industrial hemp as a field crop.
According to UNL Professor Ismail Dweikat, researchers plan to have a crop planted by the end of the year — though the university’s hemp seed importation requests are currently awaiting approval by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Once permission has been granted, it’ll take another three weeks for the seeds to arrive, said Héctor L. Santiago, assistant dean of the Agronomy Department’s Agricultural Research Division. The university plans to save seeds from this year’s harvest to use for further research crops next year.
Dweikat said if the seeds have not arrived by June 15, the state’s first hemp crop will have to be started in a greenhouse.
According to the Lincoln Journal Star, researchers will investigate several factors of concern to farmers curious about growing hemp, including best practices for plant spacing, nitrogen rates and harvesting techniques, and whether or not a hemp crop endeavor could actually turn a profit in Nebraska.
The federal government lifted the ban on hemp farming in 2014, but only for states that already have some form of hemp legalization law on the books. The Nebraska legislature moved last year to allow only universities to research industrial hemp.