Cornell AgriTech to Open Hemp Seed Bank
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]C[/dropcap]ornell AgriTech is poised to become a leader in hemp genetics and research. On Aug. 2, Sen. Charles Schumer announced $500,000 in federal funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS) to open the a hemp seed bank at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York.
The move is a response to the FY 2019 spending bill package that included the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed federal penalties and paved the way for hemp cultivation and research. The seed bank is the culmination of dogged efforts to make it a reality. “I fought tooth and nail to secure this federal funding,” stated Sen. Schumer, “while also working to strip back the burdensome federal restrictions that held our farmers and growers back from growing industrial hemp as an agriculture commodity, because I knew the potential this crop had to transform the upstate New York economy.”
Beyond medicinal purposes, hemp can provide materials for textiles, paper, HempCrete and food. The seed bank is technically called a “hemp germplasm repository” and will store priceless hemp genetics for future generations. USDA-ARS will operate the seed bank and allow Cornell researchers to study the plants.
“The hemp seed bank and the research potential it gives our Cornell and USDA-ARS scientists will be vital resources for New York state farmers,” said Kathryn J. Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “We are grateful to Sen. Schumer for his hard work to secure this federal funding.”
Cornell students already conduct research on the properties of grape, apple, cherry, tomato and Brassica crops. Adding hemp to the list will increase their range of research, given the plant’s medicinal qualities.
Cornell officials say the hemp seed bank is “desperately” needed in order to develop pest-resistant cultivars. Another major problem to address is root health, which affects most hemp growers. The cultivars of hemp could be available to growers within five years.
