HILO — Gov. David Ige signed a bill on Thursday creating a pilot research program for industrial hemp.
Senate Bill 2659 allows for cultivation and distribution of industrial hemp, the non-drug version of the cannabis plant, for agriculture and academic research. It establishes the program through the state Department of Agriculture.
Bill proponents say the Big Island could be an ideal place to grow the crop, which has a host of potential uses including clothing, food, biofuel and chicken feed.
“There’s a lot of land available, so certainly it could be a big opportunity,” said Randy Cabral, president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau.
“The most exciting part of it all for me is, the potential to make farming more economically viable here in Hawaii,” added state Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, who co-signed the measure. “It would be a wonderful crop for the Big Island.”
Ruderman didn’t have a firm guess as to how many Big Island farmers might apply for the experimental production licenses initially, but estimated fewer than a dozen.
Ka‘u vegetable farmer Greg Smith previously told West Hawaii Today he was in the early stages of planning a cooperative that could bring growers together and lead to the creation of a hub and processing center.
He said previously “Ka‘u would be ideal to grow” because of its plentiful soil and high number of “small farmers struggling to find a crop they can make money on.”
Licenses cost $250 plus $2 per acre. Growers are required to report to the DOA a week prior to harvesting any hemp, and would need permits to transport hemp grain or plant material. Only hemp from an approved list of seed cultivars can be grown.
The bill allots $425,000 to cover administrative costs and to administer the program. It doesn’t set a cap on the number of licenses that can be issued.
Ruderman said the “research” that is required to grow hemp could be broadened. For example, it could include marketing research.
He also said hemp could have medicinal benefits similar to marijuana, but without the high. Unlike marijuana, industrial hemp must be less than 0.3 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol, or “THC,” the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Hemp can be used to make “leaf juice” from raw cannabis plant, Ruderman said, or cannabidiol oil, commonly called CBD oil.
Richard Ha, one of two people chosen earlier this year to open medical marijuana dispensaries on the Big Island, said Friday he’s followed recent hemp research but would need to see more results — including from the pilot program — before establishing any future interest in growing the crop.
The program, which allows growing only for research, doesn’t commercialize hemp but perhaps “opens it up” to the possibility in the future, Ha said.
“It will depend on how research plays out, because the thing about hemp plants is, their ability to grow successfully is localized,” he said. “… There’s still a lot of research that needs to be done.”
