CONVERSE, Ind. — Many U.S. farmers may soon have a new option for diversification. With passage of the 2018 farm bill, hemp production is being revived after 80-plus years of prohibition.

“There are 22,000 estimated uses for the hemp plant,” said Mark Boyer, a sixth-generation farmer near Converse. He believes Hoosier producers are well poised to take advantage of that. “The potential is there, but much more research and information is needed.”

He grew 12 acres of hemp in a traditional row crop setting last year on Boyer Farms, which he owns with his father, Craig. “I was able to secure a permit to grow it through the research program at Purdue University. We’re pretty sure it’s the first time it’s been grown in Indiana since World War II.”

The 2014 farm bill legalized industrial hemp production for research purposes, and the 2018 bill has removed hemp from the federal Controlled Substance Act and assigned regulatory authority to the states. Each state must provide a framework for a hemp program, based on minimum requirements set by the farm bill, and apply for USDA approval. The move will give hemp growers access to USDA programs, such as crop insurance.

Though the crop has been federally descheduled, Boyer said hemp will be – and needs to be – heavily regulated. “It’s still cannabis. It’s related to marijuana,” he explained.

Hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the cannabis species, but hemp carries little to no tetrahydrocannabidinol, or THC, that produces the psychoactive “high” of marijuana. Hemp contains 0.3 percent or less of THC, whereas marijuana may contain 18-38 percent.

That species relationship, though, has caused a stigma to be attached to hemp and created confusion. To help explain, Boyer compares them to a Chihuahua and a Great Dane; both are dogs, but they have very different genetics.

Boyer said one type of hemp is grown for fiber only, another for seed only and one for both seed and fiber. Each has different characteristics, with the seed-only plants growing 2-4 feet tall and having little biomass. The fiber-only plants, he said, grow 13-15 feet tall, providing more biomass. The plants grown for both seed and fiber are between at 5-8 feet in height.

He said there’s also a particular strain grown for cannabidiol, or CBD oil, which is used for a variety of health issues, such as pain, seizures, inflammation, nausea, anxiety and depression.

Boyer grew the dual-purpose strain in his experimental plot. He said although it gives up a little on each end (seed and fiber), he hopes to raise it in the future to have two new products to market. Originally a conventional row crop operation, Boyer Farms has already diversified by adding sunflowers and canola for the oils.

He created Healthy Hoosier Oil to process and bottle the oils on the farm. That same cold-press extraction process used for the canola and sunflower oils can also be used for hemp oil. He explained hemp oil is different from CBD oil in that it’s used for culinary, beauty supply and industrial purposes.

“For my operation, I just see it as an addition to our lineup,” Boyer noted.

Hemp fiber is used to make paper, textiles, construction materials, rope and a fiberglass substitute. He said Flex Form Technologies in Elkhart imports 40 tons of hemp fiber per week from Southeast Asia for its manufacturing processes.

The company makes “non-woven natural fiber composite mats and panels that are strong, lightweight, moldable and completely recyclable.” The materials are used in the automotive, office interior, aircraft, recreational vehicle, truck, commercial vehicle, industrial, modular housing and packaging industries.

“The market is there, but it will take time to build,” Boyer said. “One thing I think is very important to stress is: there’s a lot of interest in raising hemp, and a lot of potential, but (farmers) have to make absolutely certain they’re contracted with an end user and have a market before ever putting a seed in the ground.”

There are other issues, according to Boyer, who testified at the Statehouse last Thursday about his experimental plot, as legislators educate themselves on the crop to determine if they will approve it and how they might proceed with a program if they do.

"Testimony went very well,” he noted. “The bill is now passed out of committee (Senate Committee on Commerce and Technology) and will be heard on the Senate floor next. Most of the concern in the committee came from how funding the regulatory would work and not the crop itself; much different from last year.

“We need a plant breeding program,” Boyer said, adding that he bought his seed from Wisconsin, but it had Canadian genetics. “There are currently no pesticides or herbicides labeled for hemp in the U.S., which is a complication. Harvest handling is a problem.

“We need a receiving point … infrastructure needs to be built. We’re taking on a new commodity in Indiana. We need to slowly approach it and go into it on firm ground.”

More experience south

In Kentucky, hemp production has been underway a bit longer.

“Hemp farming has been resuscitated over the last five years,” said Steve Bevan, president of GenCanna, which produces CBD oil in Kentucky. He said he believes the commonwealth has been open to a leadership position with the crop because many people remember when “Papaw” used to grow it.

“Some states are ahead,” he said. “Colorado and Kentucky are already out of the gate. Kentucky is far and away the leader in hemp thanks to their agriculture department. Michigan has come along and is moving forward.

“Ohio is working on it, and in Tennessee interest is growing. We’ve had inquiries from Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Indiana has gone from where it’s taboo … there’s a great evolution going on here,” he added.

Pilot programs emerged in Kentucky in 2014, Bevan said, and GenCanna was one of the first companies to apply. He said the company has two primary outputs: CBD and a 99.5 percent pure isolate that other companies can use to make their own products. He said GenCanna’s name appears only on samples.

The company’s Certified Farmer Network contracts with farmers to raise the crop, and has seen a number of Kentucky’s tobacco farmers switch to raising hemp. GenCanna has standard operating procedures for its growers to follow and offers plenty of guidance to help them raise the labor-intensive crop.

Bevan said GenCanna has partnered with 12 family farms and two family greenhouse operations, but is expanding to 50 farms and 3-5 greenhouses. They employ more than 160 people in processing.

“We provide the farmers with compliant genetics,” he explained. “The farmers raise the crop and provide the labor and are paid. No chemicals are used. It’s important to the users that farmers are compliant.”

Hemp farmers also must comply with government permitting. Bevan said they are required to have a permit to grow hemp, and if they do not, they’re subject to the penalties they would face if they were growing marijuana. He said the variety doesn’t matter, because the species is still cannabis.

“It’s the only way to legally produce hemp,” he said.

 According to Bevan, there’s a lot of interest in high-quality CBD, and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and others have visited GenCanna facilities to learn more about it and how it’s produced.

“I think we’ll see it going from health food stores to mainstream stores,” he said. “That’s great for farmers.”