The Governor has taken significant measures to encourage industrial hemp production in New York. In 2015, the State launched its Industrial Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot Program, permitting a limited number of educational institutions to grow and research industrial hemp. In 2017, the State eliminated the cap on the number of sites authorized to grow and research the plant and expanded the program to include farmers and businesses. Governor Cuomo also introduced and signed new legislation to establish industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity under the State’s Agricultural and Markets Law.
The Governor also announced up to $10 million in grant funding will be available through two initiatives to advance industrial hemp research and economic development opportunities for industrial hemp businesses. The State will make up to $5 million in research grants available to support the research and production of industrial hemp in New York—including nearly $1 million in partnerships with Cornell University and SUNY Morrisville to support industrial hemp research during the 2017 growing season. The State will also make up to $5 million in capital grants available to provide funding to eligible businesses for capital costs related to the processing of industrial hemp, including new construction and the purchase of equipment.
The research project focuses on developing basic agronomic and production cost information for growing industrial hemp at scale in different locations under New York State conditions. The industrial hemp grown in this project may also be sold for further processing, which will develop price data from the open market. These sets of agronomic, cost-of-production, and business data will be distilled into useful and practical knowledge to inform production decisions related to future growth in the industrial hemp industry.
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