NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Among industrial hemp’s numerous uses are fiber for textiles, seeds and oil for nutritional products and cannabidiol (CBD), which has medicinal properties.

The rub, said Dr. Kevin Gibson of the Purdue Hemp Project, is how producers will extract those from the crop. “One of our challenges is that since it hasn’t been grown in Indiana in such a long time, farmers may not have the specialized equipment that they need,” he explained. “So our challenge is to figure out where farmers in Indiana can do this.”

Gibson said next year’s research crop will start earlier, with more cultivars planned.

“I’d like to emphasize that Purdue is in this,” he said. “We’ve got a team of 10 Purdue research faculty; those range from food science to weed science, technology, soil people, agronomists. We’ve got a lot of folks interested in coming in on this new crop. The website is up, we’re working on harvesting issues.

“What you should take away from this is that Purdue is serious about being a partner on this. We’re serious about developing research that farmers are going to need to successfully grow this crop in Indiana.”

John Lupien, founder and president of BastCore of Omaha, Neb., which is developing hemp processing machinery, also spoke at the Indiana Industrial Hemp Symposium this month.

“At BastCore we’re trying to build a bridge between the farm and industries,” he said.

“I think that there’s already a good basis for growing hemp. I think a lot of researchers have done an excellent job developing products for hemp. The problem is that there’s no infrastructure to process the hemp stocks into biofibers for industry. We’re developing a new system for that.”

His company’s plans include a pilot plant with a 2-ton-per-hour capacity, starting in Nebraska in 2016.

Lupien has also studied the history of America’s hemp industry, and spoke about the short-lived American Hemp Co. (AMHEMPCO) of the mid-20th century, which included the Ball brothers of Muncie, Ind., among its investors.

Silvia Leahu-Aluas of Sustainable Manufacturing Consulting spoke of “circular economies” and how industrial hemp could be part of a farm-to-factory symbiosis. “I think we emphasize too much on economy and not enough of society. Sustainability is not a return to primitive life.”

Indiana Hemp Industries Assoc. Vice President Tayler Glover said various states have developed their own identities in relation to hemp. Colorado, for instance, has become “the medicinal state,” she said: “They are heavily invested in CBD production.”

Oregon could be considered a “split state,” she said, because of concerns of mixing of now-legal cannabis and hemp.

Hemp licenses there have been suspended.

“Kentucky is the self-proclaimed ‘hemp state,’” Glover said. “They have the most public support … What is Indiana’s identity going to be?”