Farmers can now apply online to grow industrial hemp in Colorado.
Brian Koontz, the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Hemp Program Manager, said Thursday the state already leads the country in registered land area for industrial hemp cultivation, and the new application process “will help us continue to stand as a leader in the industry.”
Farmers can apply online at the department’s Hemp Online Portal — or HOP.
The agriculture department has processed more than 2,600 industrial hemp registrations across the state, and more than 80 square miles of the crop has been harvested so far in 2019.
Colorado requires industrial hemp to have less than 0.3 percent of THC, the chemical that produces a high in marijuana. The federal Farm Bill passed in late 2018 legalized the production of hemp nationwide.
