AM Minnesota Today Industrial Hemp

The topic on today's AM Minnesota Program will be industrial hemp. My guest will be Whitney Place assistant Commissioner of Agriculture with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. I did receive a news release from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture about the industrial hemp pilot program in Minnesota. Currently there are about 55 farmers in Minnesota raising industrial hemp on a small scale. It is highly regulated because industrial hemp is in the same family as cannabis or marijuana.

Industrial hemp used to be a crop grown in Minnesota. My grandfather said farmers grew hemp during World War II. It was used for manufacturing rope. In fact a couple of the hemp plant buildings are still standing today!. In the picture is some of the buildings from the hemp plant just south of New Richland. In addition there are buildings still standing and being used for storage just north of my home town of Wells.