Ten years ago, Evan Lucas would wander around Baltimore, noticing the blighted and obsolete buildings. With his background in construction and property development, he would think about how those buildings could be refurbished and put to use in different ways instead of being demolished and rebuilt, all on the taxpayer’s dime.

Now a professor at Northern Michigan University in the state’s Upper Peninsula, Lucas has combined his family’s farming background with his desire to see old buildings converted to new uses by spearheading the launch of the university’s new Indoor Agriculture program, a two-year associate’s degree focused on indoor cannabis and food production.

Partnering with professors Kim Smith and Donna Becker from the school’s Biology department, Lucas, who works in the school’s Technology and Occupational Sciences department, “created this sort of interdisciplinary approach because we think that there's also some connections that need to be made between what we teach in higher ed and what the industries need,” he tells Cannabis Business Times. The program blends plant science, facility design, entrepreneurship and business management to prepare graduates for careers in various aspects of indoor agriculture.

NMU has been at the forefront of cannabis education at universities, being one of the first accredited institutions to launch a Medicinal Plant Chemistry degree that looks at the chemical makeup of medicinal plants, including cannabis, and their potential applications in healthcare. The Indoor Agriculture program differs in that it focuses on “plant physiology, the chemical makeup of nutrients within these specific plants and the systems involved to grow these different types of plants indoors,” Lucas explains.

Students won’t be practicing on growing cannabis (at least for now), and instead will learn how to grow food in indoor environments, with the idea that the theories and practices they learn growing food will translate effectively to cannabis production.

To increase the experiential learning opportunities, the school is converting an aviation lab into an indoor agriculture lab. The conversion will tee up the program as those involved with the project can use that experience to teach students what it takes to retrofit existing spaces for agriculture. For example, the future indoor agriculture lab is across the hall from an auto maintenance lab so special attention has to be paid to air flow and filtration, just like in a real-life indoor cannabis environment, Lucas says.

“Those are things that are good lessons for students to understand how you can control the environment, which is a big part of why we all thought the inner collaboration of these different building systems plus plant growth is so important to understand so that you can retrofit different types of spaces.”

As part of the two-year program, students will learn how to develop and manage hydroponic, aquaponic and aeroponic systems, HVAC systems and sustainability, among other topics.

NMU does not anticipate any COVID-19 related delays in launching the program and expects to start its first semester in the Fall, Lucas says. “NMU will be commencing with face-to-face classes in August, and we are in the process of purchasing the equipment for the lab renovation,” he says.

Greenflower partnership

NMU also is partnering with Greenflower, an online cannabis education platform, to offer cannabis certifications based on Greenflower’s educational curriculum.

“Essentially, it's a partnership where the school is offering the accreditation in terms of you get a certificate from NMU,” explains Greenflower CEO Max Simon. “You get the credibility that comes from being a part of the NMU alumni. But it's Greenflower content and technology that's powering the curriculums and our instructors that are leading the programs.”

There are four certificates being offered as part of this partnership:

• The Business of Cannabis
• Cannabis Agriculture & Horticulture
• Cannabis Law & Policy
• Cannabis Healthcare & Medicine

“There's a very legitimate shortage of specialized workers that need to fill important roles throughout the cannabis supply chain,” Simon says. “It's the role of higher education to prepare people for high paying in demand jobs… I think it's a very exciting time because it's the start a new era in my mind where higher education really takes the cannabis industry seriously and provides the necessary education and training that's needed to fill the cannabis ecosystem with well-trained workers.”

Each certification includes three courses, Cannabis 101 and two additional curricula that relate directly to the field of study. Each course lasts eight weeks and can be built upon by completing the courses for each certificate program. The cost for each certification is $2,950. 

For more information on the associate’s degree, visit https://www.nmu.edu/tos/indoor-agriculture, and for the certificate programs, visit https://nmu.edu/cannabisstudies. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a coronavirus relief program for producers, but hemp is not one of the crops automatically eligible for the program. 

Hemp producers may be eligible, however, if they “believe they’ve suffered a 5% or greater price decline between January and April 2020 and ... face additional marketing costs due to COVID-19,” the USDA says on its website.

This wasn’t the case when the USDA released specifics of its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program earlier in the week, when it said hemp and tobacco would not be permitted to argue their case for eligibility, says Eric Steenstra, the president of Vote Hemp. Steenstra says the USDA excluded hemp because the department found hemp prices had not suffered a 5% decline from January to April.

“We’re not sure that’s correct, and furthermore, it doesn’t seem right that they should leave hemp out,” Steenstra says. “We’re definitely disappointed to see how hemp is being treated by the USDA in this case.”

The USDA has since rescinded that barrier, and hemp producers may now be eligible if they can prove a 5% price decline in that period.

The program will provide up to $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and ranchers impacted by the coronavirus. Funding for the payments comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act and the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act. 

Farmers will receive a one-time payment based on the commodities they produce. 

Other commodities that are not automatically eligible include sheep more than two years old, eggs/layers, soft red winter wheat, hard red winter wheat, white wheat, rice, flax, rye, peanuts, feed barley, Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton, alfalfa and forage crops.

The USDA will begin taking applications from agricultural producers through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) from May 26 until Aug. 28.

Hemp producers who want to be considered must submit comments on regulations.gov, which outlines the full instructions for what information should be included. “The most helpful and informative information for consideration by USDA is information that describes how the decline in price was determined and documentation of the sources used to make this determination,” the USDA says on the public comment docket.

The USDA says to consider three questions when submitting comments (though the comments do not have to be limited to answering only these questions):

1. “What commodities not listed have suffered a 5-percent-or-greater price loss between January and April 2020 and face additional marketing costs due to COVID-19?

2. “What was the price received per unit of measure sold the week of January 13 through January 17, 2020, (or if not available, the nearest to this date) and what is the basis for the determination of this price?

3. “What was the price received per unit of measure sold the week of April 6 through April 10, 2020, (or if not available, the nearest date to this) and what is the basis for the determination of this price?”

The USDA says it is “particularly interested in obtaining information” regarding nursery products, aquaculture products and cut flowers.

The USDA will consider comments on additional commodities by June 22.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the $77 million sell-off of GenCanna's assets as part of a deal to reorganize, liquidate and then allow the company's creditor, MGG Investment Group, to recoup what it had put into the Kentucky hemp firm.

The bankruptcy filing follows headlines surrounding GenCanna's rapidly rising debt and unpaid contract agreements. (See original story below.) 

"We are taking this action in order to position our business for success in a highly dynamic and rapidly evolving industry," Matty Mangone Miranda, CEO of GenCanna Global, said in a public statement at the time of the bankruptcy filing. "While this is certainly not the outcome we desired, the bankruptcy process gives us the ability to move forward in a way that allows us to best continue operations and serve customers as we work through our reorganization, resolve an outstanding legal dispute involving our Western Kentucky facility, navigate an uncertain regulatory environment and adjust our annual operating costs to better match the landscape."

MGG Investment Group is one of several private lenders that have infused the nascent hemp industry with cash. 

***

Updated Feb. 7

Winchester, Ky.-based GenCanna has filed for bankruptcy in a move to reorganize more than $100 million in debt, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“I think this is really a gut punch to Kentucky’s growing hemp industry. Lot of farmers spent a lot of time, a lot of hope and a lot of risk on this crop and it’s clear some processors overextended themselves in this unstable market,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles told the newspaper.

***

Originally published Feb. 4

In late January, three companies filed an involuntary petition for bankruptcy, targeting Kentucky hemp processor GenCanna and alleging that the business owes more than $50,000 in unpaid contract agreements.

GenCanna is currently building a new processing plant in western Kentucky, and general contractor Pinnacle Inc. led the charge in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Two other companies, Crawford Sales Inc. and Integrity Architecture PLLC, joined the petition. Each company alleges that it is owed at least $16,750.

GenCanna has until mid-February to respond.

“The petition filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky is part of a legal dispute process to which we will respond soon,” Global GenCanna CEO Matty Mangone-Miranda said in a public statement. “We were involved in good faith negotiations to resolve this matter and this is an aggressive step that destabilizes that process. We are deeply disappointed with Pinnacle’s decision. The entire hemp industry is facing challenges and the situation in Graves County is one symptom of the larger challenge. It’s actions like this that further put the company and the industry at risk. We believe in Kentucky hemp and we are fighting every day to overcome this situation for our employees, farmers and vendor partners.”

This is not the first court case to highlight some financial tension within GenCanna. The local Kentucky press reports that the company has been on the wrong end of more than 70 liens targeting its new processing facility. Murtco, another contractor, insists that GenCanna owes $3.2 million, for example. 

While the bankruptcy case is proceeding, those liens and foreclosure complaints are placed on standby.