Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center recently received $5.5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service to fund research into hemp-based foods, beverages, and other industrial uses for the plant, the Hemp Gazette reports.

The grant funding will go in part toward developing hemp genetics that can adapt to the growing conditions of the western United States. Researchers will also investigate possibilities for biodegradable packing products and building materials — and even plant-based food and beverages — as part of a goal “to develop multiple product streams from hemp with no remaining waste, just as has been successfully done by the cotton, corn, and timber industries,” the Center’s director Jeffrey Steiner said in the report.

“Working together this way, we will be able to build a sound scientific and business foundation for producing industrial hemp varieties that are not only adapted to Pacific Northwest growing conditions but can be used by manufacturers to produce new food, beverage and biobased industrial products.” — Steiner, via the Hemp Gazette

The latest funding is the second federal hemp grant secured this year by the Global Hemp Innovation Center after the USDA awarded the research center $10 million in March to fund a study partnering with 13 Native American tribes to investigate hemp economic development, develop sustainable supply chains, and enhance the hemp industry’s role in tribal and rural economies.

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