By Jennifer Whitlock
Field Editor

Scientists at Texas A&M AgriLife Research partnered with Growing Together Research (GTR) to collaboratively develop an industrial hemp strain with optimal traits, including reliably low levels of the psychoactive Delta-9 THC.

Prior to harvest, industrial hemp grown in the U.S. must be tested to certify levels of Delta-9 THC do not exceed a 0.3% threshold. If the plants’ Delta-9 level is higher than 0.3%, the entire crop must be impounded and destroyed.

Farmers must be sure their CBD, fiber or grain hemp crops do not exceed that threshold, which has kept many from growing the crop since it was first legalized at the federal level.

But AgriLife Research and GTR hope to create varieties that  will not exceed federal and state regulations for Delta 9-THC.

Working with GTR provides AgriLife researchers with the company’s vast computational bioinformatics capabilities.

“Together, we are developing a hemp line that will essentially produce zero Delta-9 THC, and therefore, guarantee lower than 0.3% THC levels under any growing environment,” said Dr. Michael Thomson, AgriLife Research plant breeder and a professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University.

Hemp is a challenging plant in which to create stable, reproducible genetic transformations due to a low shoot regeneration rate, according to Dr. Marco Molina, AgriLife associate research specialist.

Molina and his wife, fellow research specialist Dr. Mayra Faion-Molina, are working under Thomson’s direction to develop and test protocols for hemp transformation and characterize transformed progeny.

So far, the Molinas noted, results of the hemp transformation are “very successful and promising.”

Industrial hemp has much untapped potential, GTR’s CEO Sam Proctor said. The company’s partnerships with wholesale hemp producers will further provide avenues for commercialization of the transformative varieties.

“One of the most exciting aspects of this collaboration is the direct connection between scientific research and direct benefit to market participants,” Proctor said. “There is a clear need for American farmers to have more and better options when it comes to growing legally compliant industrial hemp, and the collaboration between AgriLife and GTR can deliver that result.”