News Release

April 19, 2016 – The first Science of Industrial Hemp conference will be held July 28-29, 2016 in Denver, CO. The meeting is sponsored by the Crop Science Society of America, along with the American Society of Agronomy. Attendees will have the option for a local industrial hemp tour on Wednesday, July 27.  The conference will take place at the Embassy Suites Denver Downtown.

Attendees will hear from speakers who are at the forefront of the scientific and production-based issues of industrial hemp. They will gain knowledge and information from a wide spectrum of scientific areas pertaining to industrial hemp as well as the production issues and challenges in starting up research in this legally challenging area.

The conference co-chairs are Ronald Turco, Professor, Purdue University, and John McKay, Professor, Colorado State University. Mark A. Brick, Colorado State University, is serving as conference host and Rick Novak, Colorado State University, is the tour organizer.

Who should attend? Attendees will include those focused on the various components of the science of industrial hemp. Session topics and confirmed speakers (additional are invited) include:

• The evolutionary history of cannabis – Ernest Small, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
• Genetics/Germplasm – Ryan Lynch, Medicinal Genomics; John McKay, Colorado State University; John Page, Anandia Labs; George Weiblen, University of Minnesota
• Seeds/Plant Chemistry – Stephanie Greene, National Plant Germplasm System; Rick Novak, Colorado State University; John Roulac, Nutiva; Catherine Jacobsen, Tilray; Greg Baumbaugh, Flexform; Trey Riddle, Sunstrand
• DEA issues
• Field Production – Stefano Amaducci, EU MULTIHEMP; David Williams, University of Kentucky; Janna Beckerman, Purdue University; Kevin Gibson, Purdue University
• Industrial Hemp Research Agenda, panel discussion

Detailed program and speaker information along with registration and tour information:  https://www.crops.org/meetings/hemp-meeting.