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In this Thursday, June 13, 2019, photo, a lady bug sits on a leaf of a young hemp plant at a research station in Aurora, Ore., that's part of Oregon State University's newly formed Global Hemp Innovation Center. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)

Advertisement Nebraska launches hemp license application for remaining 2019 growing season In first year of new state law, those with licenses can grow industrial hemp for research purposes Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture announced its first application process for growing hemp in the state.Anyone interested in growing the crop during 2019 now has a week to submit an application to regulators.The deadline is Friday, June 28, at 5 p.m."To legally grow hemp in Nebraska, interested parties must apply for and receive a signed license agreement," the department said in a statement.LB657, which Gov. Pete Ricketts signed, authorizes a legal pathway to grow the burgeoning cash crop in Nebraska.An application will cost $100. If approved, a cultivator will pay $400 and a processor will pay $800 in registration fees.But those growing the crop this year must do so for research purposes. The commercialization of hemp can't happen until the state has a regulatory framework in place.State officials are still working on that permanent framework. LB657 requires the agriculture department to submit those plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by the end of the year.The bill created a state commission to promote the cultivation of hemp.It also aligned state law with the 2018 Farm Bill which removed hemp from the federal list of controlled substances. It defines hemp as varieties of the cannabis plant that contain less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol -- the psychoactive component of hemp's cousin marijuana.In addition to the application for the 2019 growing season, anyone seeking a license must be at least 18 years old and pass a criminal background check that shows no felony drug convictions in the past 10 years.The application must be approved and signed by state officials before any cultivator can begin planting hemp, regardless of the acreage proposed.There's more information on the agriculture department's website.