(KBIA) Research collaboration explores climate smart properties of hemp

Lincoln University in Jefferson City has received $5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program. Announced in 2022, the program is investing more than $3 billion in pilot projects that promise to support farmers who grow products with climate benefits. It’s part of the USDA’s broader goal of mitigating climate change through market-driven solutions in agriculture.

Researchers suspected that hemp could be particularly good at carbon sequestration, or holding carbon in the soil and keeping it out of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat radiating from the Earth and warms the planet, and agriculture contributes more than 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Lowering that number is a goal of the Climate-Smart Commodities program.

“[Hemp does] tend to have deep roots in comparison to some of our other crops,” said Cody Bagnall, a research scientist at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo., which is a partner on Lincoln’s project and works on improving the genetics of hemp roots. “The more root biomass you have, the more carbon gets stuck there.”