SUNY-ESF should consider applying for state approval to grow, study and assess the ways in which industrial hemp could be produced and distributed commercially across New York state.

The state Department of Agriculture and Markets will issue 10, three-year licenses to universities to cultivate and research hemp, an initiative that comes as the state wants to evaluate if the cannabis plant could be used as an industrial crop that would help farmers diversify production, provide increased economic opportunities and be marketed successfully.

Hemp is a valid frontier of study on an academic and economic basis, and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry should join Cornell University and Morrisville State College in seeking to become a part of the state’s pilot program. The move would serve to augment SUNY-ESF’S development in environmental scholarship while providing New York state with essential information needed to gauge its worth in local markets.

The commodification of hemp carries statewide potential, considering the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated in 2015 that the American market for hemp-based products was $580 million. This is reinforced by the fact that hemp fibers can be used to make a wide range of products, including textiles, paper materials, food, health supplements, body products, fuel and more.

Although Syracuse University is a research-based institution, agricultural studies are not one of SU’s academic areas of expertise. The study of industrial hemp is not something that the university should invest time, funding and efforts into at a time when SU’s primary academic endeavors are developing a veteran-focused medical school and measuring the campus climate.

However, SUNY-ESF is properly equipped with the academic mission, faculty and agricultural resources to study the potential of industrial hemp, an area of research the college has expressed interest in before, according to the office of State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Endwell).

The federal Farm Bill of 2014 legalized the growth of hemp for research purposes by state departments of agriculture or universities in states where it has been approved by law. Later that year, the New York state legislature approved a pilot hemp program.

Now, nearly two years later and secured with final regulations by the state agricultural department and an opportunity for institutions of higher education, SUNY-ESF should forge ahead to obtain a permit to conduct research that is relevant to its students and carry significant economic implications for farmers and consumers alike throughout greater New York state.

Published on February 8, 2016 at 12:19 am

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