 Today I'm going to be talking about the Midwestern hemp database using data to select compliant hemp cultivars So hemp is a new crop And so because of that we're going to talk about a few things. We're going to talk about hemp an overview We're going to talk about grain fiber production and how that might differ from other production systems We're going to talk about the hemp database and really how it can be used to select compliant hemp And then if we have time opportunities for research Ongoing research, excuse me and opportunities for collaboration with some grower cooperators in the region So the first thing first is to talk about what hemp is so the only difference between hemp and Marijuana or non-medical cannabis is the amount of THC that can be found in the plant and THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid That is commonly associated with intoxicating effects of marijuana So if it's above 0.3% it's considered to be marijuana or non-medical cannabis And if it's below that 0.3% Threshold it's considered hemp, which is very important for growers and consumers alike Hemp is primarily dioecious meaning that there's both male and female plants in the given seed lot But there are some monetious cultivars which are currently available and this is important because it's going to influence Management decisions and we'll talk a little bit more about that shortly here But hemp can be grown for a wide variety of things it can be grown for grain It can be grown for fiber and it can be grown for a flower all of which will determine how you actually grow the hemp in Which varieties you're sourcing They're very different production systems and you can see from the image here on the left Which is a grain fiber type production system Planted at a much higher density on narrow row spacing versus a cannabinoid hemp system for flower Which is on the right, which is much more like a specialty crop or a vegetable crop low planting densities High row spacing large row spacing. So they're very different production systems Regardless of what you're growing hemp for though the material must be compliant to be to be harvested So it must be below that 0.3% threshold So grain and fiber provides some interesting challenges because how you grow the crop itself So much like any crop that we grow it starts as a seedling and develops through the vegetative stage Into flowering and then through a senescence pollination and then senescence What's interesting though is if you're growing for fiber you want to harvest right around anthesis or right around flowering And then for grain you want to harvest when that grain has matured So depending on the end use of what you're growing the hemp for it will determine when you plant how you plant and how you harvest So something to consider Things about fertility nutrient changes With crop use and depends on the crop Crops intention. So whether it's for grain or fiber that will change the nutrient requirements For example here nitrogen fertility is going to be typically higher in a grain production system Whereas bless you. Well, it will be higher in a Phosphorus and potassium rates will be higher in a fiber system given rates of removal So when you're growing for fiber, you're removing the stock and the stem material You're taking phosphorus the potassium away from what could go back into the soil versus like grain You're growing for that seed that oil seed which contains high amounts of nitrogen So your nutrient requirements for that will be higher Um, just a few planting and management considerations. This is a small seeded crop It needs a uh, that is basically needs to grow in an organic system Because there's no insecticides herbicides or pesticides currently labeled for this crop Which is very important for your management decisions when it comes to planting and weed management So for example, um, it's a shallow seeded crop only about a quarter to a half inch is typically or three quarters But typically a quarter to a half inch for seeding and because it's a seed small seeded crop you want a Tilled packed rolled Field a with a firm seed bed to really allow uniform emergence and development Importantly trying to plant hemp after a rain instead of before a heavy rain given the small seeded nature and issues with Crusting is recommended although not always as easier as easy as we'd like it to be Um, regardless because this is again very similar to an organic system planting timing is going to be important But also weed management whether that's using a row cultivator or rotary hoe or a tine harrow There are many early season when weed management strategies available for organic and conventional producers or like um, so fiber hemp is Grown using traditional row crop equipment Typically a grain drill or a modified planter of some kind but can be broadcast and incorporated Seeding rates will vary depending on the variety But what's really important to understand at this time is that harvest is going to be done at So when the varieties are flowering is when you want to go in and chop them and allow them to ret or be Uh, essentially a slow processing in the field before they can become baled So this typically happens in mid to late july providing unique opportunities for cover crops going into the fall Grain on the other hand while is uh planted using similar equipment Seeding rates are going to be significantly lower in grain hemp and i'll talk more about that soon as it pertains to the database Um, but harvest is going to be done typically in mid to late august or early september depending on the variety And is done using a combine typically a grain draper head type situation Uh, a challenge with grain hemp is that given the issues with seed shattering and variable maturity within a field Um harvest is typically done when about 70 to 80 percent of the seeds are actually mature Uh, and that's just the nature of the beast when working with small seed crops This is no different than working with things like canola for example And so you harvest a little early to account for that to maintain those yields and reduce losses to seed shatter um So now that you kind of have an overview of what hemp is and kind of how it's grown from a commercial row crop Industrial application standpoint. We're going to talk about the hemp database and how you can use tools that are currently available to make informed variety selections Whoops. I am sorry and I realized this whole time That it wasn't on the proper thing. I am so sorry A little late to the party here So the midwestern hemp database provides agronomic uh insight into uh cannabinoid Um provides insight into agronomic performance and cannabinoid development of industrial hemp cultivars It's a repository basically for variety performance So university variety trials have been conducted across the midwest for the last few years And we put all of our information into a publicly accessible tool that growers can manipulate to Select specific data performance on certain varieties To see if they're a good fit for their region agronomically But also are they going to produce compliant hemp that they can actually harvest at the end of the season So this is just kind of a demonstration of what the database looks like and how the data can be accessed and manipulated for your use So why is all of this important? well hemp is a new crop and Information is still very limited on regional variety performance. So what variety should we grow? In addition to that best management practices are still being developed We're talking about things like when to plant for fiber or for hemp. What are the fertility requirements? What are seeding rates and seed quality characteristics? We need to be looking for and while we're getting better at understanding these things We still have a good way to go But really important for growers is regardless of the type of hemp they grow They are required to grow a compliant hot crop in order to harvest it if it's not compliant It must be destroyed at their loss at their cost So it's really hard too because seed certification is underdeveloped making picking compliant high performing varieties a challenge and so this is where the database comes in um So compliance testing what you really need to know is that growers are required to either have An inspection agent come to their field and sample their hemp before it can be harvested or submit samples to a Approved laboratory prior to harvest what I want to demonstrate here is the importance of sample location Where you sample on the plant is incredibly important as you move down the plant From top to bottom cannabinoid content THC CBD will decrease Meaning that if you're taking samples to monitor for cannabinoids early in this season from a lower part of the plant It will not be representative of what an agent or a sampling agent may come and sample from later on in the season So it's really important to follow guidelines for sampling if you're going to be monitoring cannabinoids in your field throughout the season To make sure that you're doing what a sampling agent normally would What I want to demonstrate here is the amount of data we've collected over the last few years for high cannabinoid hemp And i'm going to talk more about industrial hemp applications in a second here But what I really want to demonstrate here is that above the over 2000 samples that were submitted over the last few years 28 percent of samples submitted were non-compliant Basically what this means is that all of these crops if they had been grown and submitted to a regulatory agency would have had to Have been destroyed This is a problem. We want to get varieties that perform either reliably below this threshold of 0.3 percent or Produce significant cannabinoids in a way that growers can Monitor them effectively and harvest them at the end of the season So again 28 of these seed lots would have had to have been destroyed. This was submitted for regulatory sampling Grain and fiber hemp is a little bit of a different story, but still similar We see a almost nine percent or a little over nine percent of the samples submitted over the last few years Have been non-compliant and so we want to provide growers with an opportunity to pick varieties that are going to perform High agronomically and also compliant. And so this is where the database is very important Um, I'm pretty proud to discuss that the results of this data were actually used to inform the final hemp ruling For hemp production across the united states and data from these projects were actually used and referenced in the legislature And made several important rule changes for Growers, so we're pretty pleased about that that growers are submitting data universities are submitting data So science is informing policy and that's a pretty great thing Moving into seed certification. So currently seed certification is in its infancy in hemp There really is not many good reliable seed certifying agencies across the country Except for agencies like ayasca or the association of seed certifying agencies Now while they are a great starting point, they are really a catch-all for industrial hemp Um, they implore use of base requirements Which is a step in the right direction, but not necessarily certifying the seed themselves They are stating that varieties are eligible for certification. So while this is a good start We still have a long way to go um, also while ayasca does look at things like A uniformity and and specific traits and making sure that cultivars are performing the way that they should From a phenotypic standpoint how they look they don't factor in cannabinoid development. So compliance or yield metrics things like performance Uh, so the midwestern hemp database itself has three sources of data university research trials across the midwest grower cooperator submissions And the cult of our check program, which is a series of grower cooperator trials Across the midwest and all this data gets put into the midwestern hemp database Our research station trials are conducted at four universities university of illinois at urbana champaign michigan state university the university of wisconsin and prudu university We run trials including variety performance and best management practices The cult of our check program that I mentioned had over 32 growers Contributing data in 2022 and this is a map representing those locations where varieties were sent to growers They grew them for us. They submitted samples for analysis and the results get shared and put into the midwestern hemp database for you to use So now getting into the good stuff. Why are we how can we actually use the data from the hemp database? Well, first off we want to be able to select varieties that are certified that are going to perform well from a germination standpoint from a Quality and uniformity and that's really where a oska is going to and provide you a good baseline So we have a list of genetics here that had been a oska certified So we take that data and we couple that with entries from the midwestern hemp database looking at cult of our performance for cannabinoids So here is an excerpt from the midwestern hemp database with specific varieties The number of entries that have been submitted to the database and their cannabinoid development performance Here we're looking at varieties that have below 0.3 percent thc across all samples So you can couple the seed certification data with the data from the database and now we're looking at seed quality Now we're looking at compliance And the final piece of that puzzle is agronomic performance Right. How are they performing in my region? So here at the midwestern hemp database web page We have links to the university station trials being conducted at all the universities Where growers can get more accurate data on how they're performing in their region from a yield standpoint So we can couple all three of these components from seed certification Compliance and performance and put all of these together to create a kind of You know matrix that you can use to make a variety selection And I think all three of these are very important because they all answer three very different questions None of which have been answered holistically By any agency or university that i'm currently aware of and this is something that we're really proud of So one other thing I want to talk about here as it pertains to using the database from a seed quality standpoint is that hemp is All over the board when it comes to seed quality germination rates are typically very poor There's high amounts of dormancy or noxious weeds that are found in these seeds Seed samples when they get sent out and so we we account for that in our trials and in the database entries Just to give you an idea of how small these seeds are for hemp It's pretty important But I want to also mention that not all seed size is the same So if you look at our entries from our some of our variety trials Some of these seed weights or seeds per pound are nearly double if not triple what other seed varieties are And that's really important when we're making seeding rate and of planting recommendations So not only are not all seeds the same size, but they don't perform the same well from a germination standpoint And so we have to factor in all of these things when we give a grower a recommendation as to how they should plant their hemp And I'm going to talk about that right now with a few examples. So In 2019 when we were first learning to grow hemp, we talked about seeding rates of hemp and talking about pounds of seed per acre Nowadays we're talking about targeted seeding rates from a pure live seed Perspective and I'm going to talk about that in a minute with a few examples But our way of thinking has changed a lot because pure live seed takes into account quality germination Um And the amount of seed that you're actually applying the seeding rate Same thing for fiber in 2019. We were talking about how much seed in terms of pounds of seed per acre We should apply but now here we are in 2023 and we're talking about pure live seed How many plants per square foot should we be trying to achieve? So what do I mean by this? Let's look at a few examples here and I'm going to kind of step over here because why not Um, so pure live seed takes into account the seeding rate Pounds per acre the seeds per pound And then the germination Okay So for example, if we were to assume that we wanted to plant two grain varieties at 20 pounds of seed per acre Using a base 20 pounds per acre rate. How many seeds? Um per square foot would that be? So for a two for example We take a look at the seeds per pound The germination rate and the seeding rate and that would be about 16 to 17 plants per square foot If you apply 20 pounds of seed for the variety Honola right here and look at its seeds per pound and its germination We get a little under 10 plants per square foot So a significant difference just in these by planting two different varieties when using the base rate Now this may not seem like a big deal But it is especially when you're doubling or tripling seeding rates And look at something like this. I don't mean to call them out, but 25 percent germination from these seed lots It's not great The nice thing about doing this though is that allows you to account for poor seed quality So even if seed quality is low you increase the seeding rate You can still accurately get a good representation of what you should have planting to get Your targeted seeding rate in the field. So let's go back again and look at that Here you can just see how our our mindset has changed from going from seeding rates to pure live seed for Grain systems and also for fiber systems All of this data is available on the hemp database. We include germination rates We include seeds per pound and then if you're interested in looking at again How they performed in each region the place to go would be the the mhd Um, I'm going to move forward into a couple things quickly to talk about some of the research That's being done here at the university of wisconsin in the ellison lab Which is where I work with dr. Shelby ellison The current focus is preserving characterizing and utilizing genetic diversity and alternative crops To meet the needs of wisconsin farmers and farmers across the region What's really neat about this work is it includes new crops like hemp And so just some of the projects that we're working on here For example, dr. Adamola aina who is a great postdoc in our lab Has been working on feral hemp collections going around the the midwest collecting wild hemp to evaluate it for for fiber qualities and And trying to map certain traits so we can improve breeding populations for potential commercial cultivars So these are some of the locations all over the midwest that he's gone to make these collections And the amount of plants that he's collected we're going to evaluate them in the greenhouse Evaluate them in the field and hopefully improve our breeding program for the midwest and beyond If you know of any feral hemp locations, let us know we like to come driving around makes us feel like explorers Walking in the southern Illinois. Yes, we have okay. It's all over the place We didn't have our licenses back then when we were down there looking but now we do so we're going back Carbondale, I will come on down I hope you'll be happy to hear that Another thing that we're working on here is developing new tools to Assess diseases and identify them quantify them using multiplex methods, which is basically a method of Quantifying multiple pathogens and in a single tool Dr. Derek Runwall is working on tools like this and is very interested in pursuing further diseases for identification In quantification. We're looking at companion crops, which I find tremendously fascinating given the The wonderful amount of insects and pollinators we find in hemp fields across our trials But looking at companion crops to evaluate their impacts on hemp or hemp's impact on these companion crops as well Specifically looking at things like insect populations and biomass of both the hemp and the companion crops Um One uh one more thing i'm going to talk about we're looking at anthocyanin production So shan kim is a master student in our lab looking at pink purple pinkmentation in cannabis and seeing What specific stressors cold light are influencing the production because this is a high Demand in the cannabis market is looking at pink pigmentation purple in cannabis strains Uh and the one other thing last thing the wisconsin crop innovation center, uh the first group registered um Listed in the world who perform a successful transformation of Genetics into hemp. They inserted the crimson gene into the cannabis plant and it produced this kind of wild Red color. So this is the first um Evidence of successful transformation in hemp. It's pretty cool I actually got to see this plant in person and it looks as red as it does here Um cooperative grain and fiber trials. So this is opportunities to work with us For both grain fiber and cvd type hemp. We have grain trials that are available for growers to participate in Um for our grain and fiber trials. We pay you $500 for uh to participate We provide seed for the trials and we pay for any additional testing that you want to do Um, if you are a licensed grower and you're growing hemp for us You can harvest this grain for free if you want to do this under more of a research type license There's opportunities for that as well. Uh, but we need collaborators. We need good growers. So whether you've grown hemp Before or or not we would like to talk with you if you have patience and want to learn how to grow a new crop Um, we're getting better at doing it and be getting better at teaching people how to do it So, uh, certainly want to promote this Uh, and then also the cbd type trials the cult of our check program Is funded by ser and is probably the reason why i'm here actually talking about this All of these research efforts tie into the hemp database. So whether you're growing high cbd hemp or grain and fiber hemp All that information is available on the database. There's essentially two different Databases all providing very similar information based off the type of hemp that you want to grow Um, but the the cult of our check program funded by the ser partnership grant We just got the ser partnership grant for another two years to continue this But we send growers subsets of specific high performing varieties We pay for the testing And we just require that they send us some pictures and some data back In response, but we provide a significant amount of seed to make these trials worth it If you're interested, please contact me or use this qr code here Um, all this information i've talked about is that our emerging crops website Including links on how to get involved with every single one of these trials. Um, we provide disease diagnostic services We provide a variety trial reports participation Opportunities to get involved all that's available on our website As well as resources research reports and other production slash videos So, um, I would like to say thank you to all of our growers We would not hear it be here without them and the same goes for ser who funded this work and has been instrumental in Developing the database from what it was a couple years ago to where we are now Into our many seed suppliers growers and collaborators all across the country. I am tremendously thankful And I think it's kind of cool that we did all this during the middle of covet and for the first two and a half years I hadn't met any of my partners in person and it wasn't until this last year I got the pleasure to meet them all And so we got to do all this together via zoom Since 2020 so it's been a great experience and I look forward to keeping Working in this field. So I'll answer any questions that you have. I appreciate your time and thank you very much for having me