University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) recently joined forces with Florida-based hemp industry company Green Point Research (GPR) to support an industrial Hemp Pilot Project. Hemp plants have been planted at the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead Florida and at the UF/IFAS Agronomy Forage Research Unit in Hague, Florida — the first hemp plants to be legally grown in the state since the 1950s. GPR donated 200,000 seeds and 100 living plants for the project with more to come.
In addition, GPR has announced the rollout of its pilot Farmers First initiative to help restore struggling and defunct farms in Florida by helping them get into hemp farming. Green Point Research CEO David Hasenauer says hemp can be cultivated for more than 25,000 industrial uses, including clothing, nutritional supplements, biodegradable plastics, and fuel.
Learn more in this interview with Hasenauer, who is also president of the Florida Hemp Industries Association.
interview with David Hasenauer, CEO of Green Point Research