With the imprimatur of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, America\u2019s first industrial hemp seed bank is set to open at Cornell University, the Ivy League institution in New York state\u2019s agricultural Finger Lakes region.<\/p>\n
Initiation of the project was announced on Aug. 2 by New York\u2019s Democratic\u00a0Sen. Chuck Schumer<\/a>, the Senate minority leader who had fought for federal hemp legalization last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schumer helped secure $500,000 in federal funding for the USDA\u2019s Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) to launch the facility, which is to be operated at\u00a0Cornell AgriTech<\/a>\u00a0in Geneva, New York. Formerly known as the New York State Agricultural Research Station, Cornell AgriTech houses a Plant Genetic Resources Unit<\/a>, run jointly with USDA-ARS.<\/p>\n Schumer plugged the new project, dubbed the Industrial Hemp Germplasm Repository, as a boon to the region\u2019s farmers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to kicking upstate New York\u2019s burgeoning industrial hemp industry into an even higher gear, the Industrial Hemp Germplasm Repository is just what the doctor ordered,\u201d Schumer said in a\u00a0press release<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cNot only will this facility act as the United States\u2019 only industrial hemp seed bank, but it will also allow the world-class agricultural scientists at Cornell to help boost industrial hemp entrepreneurship.\u201d <\/p>\n The senator boasted:\u00a0\u201cI fought tooth and nail to secure this federal funding while also working to strip back the burdensome federal restrictions that held our farmers and growers back from being able to grow industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity, because I knew the potential this crop had to transform the upstate New York economy. As work gets started at the Industrial Hemp Germplasm Repository, the seeds we have sown will soon be ready to harvest.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers at the new facility are eager to begin cataloging the various strains of the hemp plant and their corresponding virtues and applications, according to Cornell\u2019s official\u00a0announcement<\/a>\u00a0of the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe hemp seed bank and the research potential it gives our Cornell and USDA-ARS scientists will be vital resources for New York state farmers,\u201d said Kathryn J. Boor, dean at Cornell\u2019s\u00a0College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. \u201cWe are grateful to Sen. Schumer for his hard work to secure this federal funding.\u201d<\/p>\n Larry Smart, a professor in the horticulture section at Cornell\u2019s School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS), said the hemp repository is a desperately needed resource for the industry. The seed bank will enable researchers to identify pest-resistant and disease-resistant genes, allowing them to breed new varieties.\u00a0<\/p>\n Christine Smart, a professor in the plant pathology section at SIPS, said she believes cultivars developed at the facility will be ready for farmers within five years. \u201cThe more germplasm that scientists have access to,\u201d she said, \u201cthe better the chances are that we\u2019re going to breed plants that are useful, whether it\u2019s for managing pests or specific climates.\u201d<\/p>\n USDA-ARS already partners with Cornell scientists on research into grape, apple, cherry, tomato and Brassica crops.<\/p>\n The facility was conceived in Schumer\u2019s legislation, the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, which was ultimately incorporated into the\u00a02018 Farm Bill<\/a>. This historic bill legalized hemp cultivation and is having\u00a0broad impacts across the country<\/a>, from agriculture to criminal justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 2018 Farm Bill defines hemp as the cannabis sativa plant with less than 0.3% THC, which means that the genetics that Cornell\u2019s scientists will be working with will be incredibly similar to high-THC cannabis genetics. <\/p>\n The USDA-ARS funding for the Industrial Hemp Germplasm Repository can be understood as a step towards the establishment of a national public hemp seed bank, a valuable resource for farmers coast to coast. Right now, however, it appears the repository will be focused on developing cultivars that farmers will have to license to use. <\/p>\n There have been other recent steps in this direction. In June, the inauguration of a Global Hemp Innovation Center was\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0at Oregon State University, where a multidisciplinary team will be working to establish standards for the worldwide industry.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, what\u2019s the most exciting change you\u2019ve seen in America\u2019s hemp industry?<\/p>\n The post USDA Backs Nation\u2019s First Industrial Hemp Seed Bank<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
With the imprimatur of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, America\u2019s first industrial hemp seed bank is set to open at Cornell University, the Ivy League institution in New York state\u2019s agricultural Finger Lakes region. Initiation of the project was announced on Aug. 2 by New York\u2019s Democratic\u00a0Sen. Chuck Schumer, theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,11698,5,6846,296,1915,11699,321,11700,3422,9990,11701],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37334,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37333\/revisions\/37334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cataloging Genetic Resources<\/h4>\n
Federal Support for Hemp Farmers\u00a0<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: USDA Backs Nation\u2019s First Industrial Hemp Seed Bank<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"