SALEM-Oregon legislators appear ready to delay widespread hemp production in the state while the new industry works out its conflicts with marijuana growers.

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure that would prohibit new hemp farming permits until 2017 and force one controversial hemp plot in Josephine County to yank its plants out of the ground.

Lawmakers said the pause would give the time for a committee to provide recommendations to the Department of Agriculture on how to prevent pollen from hemp farms from interfering with high-value marijuana crops, particularly in southern Oregon.

"Ultimately I feel there is going to be a position in the world for hemp, marijuana and wine to get along," said Rep. Carl Wilson, R-Grants Pass, referring to concerns some wineries have about how odor from hemp and marijuana grows could affect their operations.

Hemp is a form of cannabis low in THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, which produces marijuana's high. The federal government last year loosened the prohibitions on the cultivation of hemp, which is used in a wide variety of products ranging from food and pharmaceuticals to clothing and cosmetics.

The hemp-marijuana battle reached a flashpoint in Wilson's Josephine County district when a group of businesspeople -- including two county commissioners -- obtained a permit for a hemp farm near several medical marijuana operations.

Marijuana industry advocates complained that the state Department of Agriculture was too quick to issue permits and hadn't followed all of its own regulations.

They pushed lawmakers to move on legislation, now amended into House Bill 2668, that would require the agriculture department to go back and re-issue permits following a strict set of rules, including a prohibition on hemp farms within 1,000 feet of a school.

The department issued 13 permits this year, said spokeswoman Liz Beeles, with five indicating they planned to plant this year.

The legislation also says that hemp farmers could be compensated by the taxpayers if they're forced to remove their crops under the new rules.

The bill would force the removal of a hemp farm near Murphy that is next to Hidden Valley High School. The land is owned by Josephine County Commissioner Cherryl Walker, and fellow Commissioner Simon Hare is an investor in the operation, according to Cliff Thomason, a local real estate broker who is heading the group.

Thomason said he was angry the bill would force him to halt his operation, saying he doesn't think there is any reason that hemp farming can't be near a school.

"They can eat hemp products, they can wear hemp products, but they can't go to school next to it," said Thomason. "That makes no sense."

Thomason said he so far has 600 plants in the ground but hasn't yet figured out how much the state should provide his group in compensation if they have to remove them. Beeles, the department spokeswoman, said in an email that the agency estimates that a hemp crop is worth $500 to $750 an acre.

House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene and chair of the House Rules Committee, said it's not clear whether Thomason's group has enough area under cultivation to qualify for compensation.

Supporters of the legislation say that federal law includes enhanced penalties for any kind of cannabis product near schools. Even if Congress now explicitly allows hemp farms, the state still has to follow federal guidelines aimed at discouraging marijuana use by minors, said Geoff Sugerman, a lobbyist for the Oregon Cannabis PAC, a marijuana industry group.

HB 2668 now goes to the Joint Ways and Means Committee. Hoyle said she wants to ensure the future of hemp in Oregon, saying that "this is of great economic benefit to impoverished counties" that are no longer sustained by the timber industry.

--Jeff Mapes

503-221-8209

@Jeffmapes