An employee of Hemp, Inc. in South Carolina trims plants in a commercial hemp field. Though the plants appear similar to marijuana, hemp cannot get a person high, and it has about 25,000 potential industrial uses. Photo via Hemp, Inc.

A seminar for people interested in growing industrial hemp will be held Feb. 25 in Fresno.

The event follows the December passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, which among other things repealed hemp’s status as Schedule 1 drug, as is its close cousin, marijuana. The big difference is that hemp lacks the ratio of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in its cousin, so it can’t get people high.

The 2014 Farm Bill allowed for some hemp growing in the U.S. on farms associated with research organizations, but the new bill eliminates that restriction, so farmers can choose to grow hemp on their own, as they would wheat, oranges, cotton or most other crops.

“Learn the latest information about hemp business opportunities in California. Get presentations from California hemp business and farm leaders. Receive a 40-page workbook on California Hemp market information and state regulations. Network with hemp business peers, growers, startups, and members of hemp business associations,” states an announcement about the California Hemp Business and Farm Workshop at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Fresno Convention Center.

“The California Department of Food and Agriculture hemp farming regulations will be issued soon,” continues the release by the seminar’s organizer, California Hemp Industry Consulting Business Development & Marketing. “This will officially start the new California hemp agricultural industry. California is now positioned to grow into the USA’s largest hemp-growing, production and consumption market.”

Experts say hemp literally has more than 25,000 uses, from being woven into textiles to producing medicinal oil to being molded into forms comparable to hard plastics to replacing concrete in construction.

Tickets for the workshop range from $50 to $200. Information about the event is available at ca-hemp.org.