PENNSYLVANIA, MAY 30, 2018 00 Hemp is coming to Lackawanna County. The state recently awarded a hemp research permit to the nonprofit U.S. Ecological Advanced Research & Conservation Hub in Mayfield and Lackawanna College for them to grow and explore potential industrial uses of hemp, the college announced.
Hemp cultivation and research will take place at the Northeast Environmental Technology Center greenhouse and lab in Mayfield. Students from Lackawanna College's new Sustainable Agriculture program will participate in the research and work.
The hemp initiative will have a decidedly Northeast Pennsylvania focus by tapping into the area's mining past. The research will test whether hemp can grow with acid mine water irrigation and on culm land. If successful, hemp could help remediate old environmental problems and provide a new agricultural growth path, said Dan Summa, the executive director of USEARCH.
Researchers will tap acid mine water from a well drilled deep under the property, to learn whether hemp can grow with tainted and reclaimed mine water, Summa said. Read more at The Morning Call
