Brownfield Ag News

By Mark Dorenkamp

The Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee is looking to provide additional funding for industrial hemp research.

Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar says the U.S. Senate passed an agriculture funding bill earlier this month that includes a $500,000 grant to establish a new partnership focused on innovations in industrial hemp.

“It’s one of the oldest and most versatile crops in ag, the fiber is strong (and) ecofriendly. And it can be turned into textiles, paper, animal bedding, and a range of construction materials from flooring to insulation.”

Shannon Schlecht with AURI, Minnesota’s Agricultural Utilization and Research Institute, says federal support for industrial hemp is still in its infancy.

“With the 2018 Farm Bill, and the work that needs to happen on research to really look at the new opportunities and market potential of this really diverse crop in terms of what it can bring as an opportunity for Minnesota and U.S. agriculture with new products around the bioeconomy.”