Creating legal hemp crops, products in Nebraska is a challenge

Air Date: 12/31/2021

How do you grow, manufacture, and market hemp-based CDB products in a state where marijuana products are illegal? It remains a challenge linking science and law for those growing and processing hemp in Nebraska. This side of the industry reverse engineers what’s happening in the rest of the cannabis trade: they create a less potent product. When Midwestern states passed laws allowing cultivation of “fiber hemp” with minimal THC levels, most envisioned developing products like rope and clothing. Those markets have been slow to develop. Meanwhile, the demand for non-narcotic CBD products has exploded. With it came an increased interest in “extract hemp.” Much of the science around the cultivation and processing of extract hemp is still evolving as growers and processors continue to refine methods to cultivate and extract CBD that meet the federal THC threshold. This story was produced by Nebraska Public Media as part of the NOVA Science + Society project.