Oregon State University Hemp Center Receives $ 10 Million Grant

Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center announced last week that it had received a $ 10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study and define economic opportunities for hemp in the western United States.

OSU scientists plan to use the funds to collaborate with eight institutions across the country in a five-year research program.

The research aims to address the needs of businesses in Native American and rural communities in a vast region of the western Pacific Ocean that spans four states. Jeffrey Steiner, deputy director of the Hemp Center at OSU, told reporters that the funding received for the research program is one of the largest grants ever awarded for the study of hemp.

“We’re just happy to get it,” said Steiner. “It’s a very competitive program and we’re among the elite institutions that get the money.”

Building a robust hemp economy

Although the cultivation of hemp and products made from hemp were legalized with the 2018 Farm Bill, the development of a comprehensive industry for the production of grain and fiber from hemp, as well as CBD and other cannabinoids, has got off to a sluggish start. More research is needed to investigate where different types of cannabis are best grown and what genetics and cultivation techniques are best.

Researchers also plan to explore where the hemp materials grown in the region can best be processed, likely growth markets to support the expansion of the hemp industry, and how the crop can be integrated into existing production systems to complement rather than market the markets disturb.

“We founded the Global Hemp Innovation Center in 2019 to bring together a variety of stakeholders to answer big unanswered questions about the hemp industry,” Steiner said in a statement from the university. “While the enthusiasm for hemp has grown, there is still a lack of knowledge about the useful plant.”

The USDA grant-funded research will focus on the rural transportation corridor that runs east of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges through Washington, Oregon, Nevada and California, from the southern to the northern borders of the United States. The vast region encompasses a variety of mostly arid environmental conditions with large areas of both irrigated and non-irrigated agricultural production.

Creation of equity in the hemp industry

The four-state area to be studied includes a significant number of Native American tribes and leading researchers, including indigenous farmers and tribal leaders in the research project, particularly Laurie Danzuka, the cannabis project coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon. Through this collaboration, the researchers plan to incorporate the cultural and economic needs of tribal communities as part of the business development effort for the region.

“The Warm Springs tribe has an interest in exploring and expanding our agricultural opportunities in hemp production, and this is one way of doing it,” said Laurie. “This collaboration will enable us to identify potential sustainable uses for hemp, leverage best farming practices and provide members with learning opportunities.”

Steiner added that involving tribal communities in the research will introduce Indigenous students to various aspects of the burgeoning hemp industry while addressing historical inequalities in American agriculture.

“The involvement of tribal communities along with other rural communities in advance of this work is critical to its success,” said Steiner. “The potential economic opportunities that this new commodity offers rural communities may have created enormous potential, and our project aims to ensure that these opportunities are equally available and relevant to all types of farmers.”

Scientists from the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University and researchers from the Colleges of Business, Engineering, and Pharmacy at OSU and the university’s Extension Service will collaborate with scientists from the Global Hemp Innovation Center as part of the research program.

There are also research partners from the University of California, Davis; Washington State University; University of Nevada, Reno Extension; the US Department of Transportation, the Volpe National Transportation Systems Research Center, the accredited Tribes Extension Program; 7 Generations, a Native American owned company specializing in business development for tribal communities and the National Agricultural Library, Agricultural Research Service and USDA’s Western Rural Development Center.