Newsflash: Oregon Issues First Hemp Growing License In Over 75 Years To Farmer
The long fought hemp battle is finally turning in the favor of farmers. Edgar Winters, a Southwest Oregon farmer was granted the first state permit in 75 years to grow industrial hemp. He and a nonprofit group of growers and activists plan to grow hemp on a 25-acre field this spring.
Edgar Winters said he and his group will be ready to process 40 tons of hemp a day at their processing mill, and he is confident that he and his group have their “ducks in a row” and will have no issues with processing and warehousing the hemp.
They face one major obstacle getting the process started. They first have to acquire the hemp seeds, which will not be easy to do. Edgar Winter and his group will have to import the hemp seeds, and that requires the approval of the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon State University are intervening to get the DEA to give its approval.
Once they overcome that obstacle and gain the DEA’s approval, they will need to actually purchase the seed. They have already run in a obstacle because a major Canadian hemp company, Hemp Textiles International, has breeders’ rights to its seed and will not give them rights to plant to their seeds.
Edgar Winters and his group are resilient and have been looking for other options. They have been investigating importing seeds from Russia, Hungary, Australia or New Zealand. He and his group are currently at a standstill, but they are optimistic that they will overcome the obstacles and will be able to plant their hemp crop.
