Texas opens applications for 2020 hemp production

Texas has opened applications to grow and process hemp in the nation’s second-largest state.

But state agriculture agronomists are warning that Texans shouldn’t look to wetter states like Kentucky and Oregon to predict production.

The applications opened Monday and come with

• $100 application fees
• $100 licensing fees
• $300 sampling and testing fees

A recent report from Texas A&M cautioned interested producers to consider the plant’s water needs before planting. The school set up a Hemp Team that toured the state offering $20 production seminars.

“It remains to be seen if hemp will be a viable dryland crop without irrigation in drier regions of Texas,” the school cautioned in its report.