The USDA-ARS funding for the Industrial Hemp Germplasm Repository can be understood as a step towards the establishment of a national public hemp seed bank, a valuable resource for farmers coast to coast. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader who had fought for federal hemp legalization last year. Federal Support for Hemp Farmers The facility was conceived in Schumer’s legislation, the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, which was ultimately incorporated into the 2018 Farm Bill. The seed bank will enable researchers to identify pest-resistant and disease-resistant genes, allowing them to breed new varieties. This historic bill legalized hemp cultivation and is having broad impacts across the country, from agriculture to criminal justice.
With the imprimatur of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, America’s first industrial hemp seed bank is set to open at Cornell University, the Ivy League institution in New York state’s agricultural Finger Lakes region.Initiation of the project was announced on Aug. 2 by New York’s Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader who had fought for federal hemp legalization last year. Schumer helped secure $500,000 in federal funding for the USDA’s Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) to launch the facility, which is to be operated at Cornell AgriTech in...
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