Oregon State University gets $2.5 million in federal funding for hemp research

Federal officials designated money for hemp research at Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center as part of the nearly $20 million earmarked for the hemp industry in the massive appropriations bill that passed both houses of the U.S. Congress at the end of 2019.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkeley, a Democrat from Oregon, said Monday that the Corvallis school would receive $2.5 million to use for the new hemp research program.

Development of the Global Hemp Innovation Center and its intentions to further hemp research was announced at an event at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Oregon, last summer by university officials, including Alan Sams, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State.

The funding announcement “shows the federal government’s confidence in our work,” Sams told the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

The money will help establish the center, which will emphasize collaboration with other universities.

In September, Oregon State alumni Seth and Eric Crawford, founders of hemp seed research and development company Oregon CBD, donated $1 million to the center to further research on hemp genetics.