A bipartisan slate of 30 legislators — from liberal Minneapolis Rep. Phyllis Kahn to conservative Rep. Mark Buesgens of Jordan — are proposing legislation to allow Minnesota farmers to grow industrial hemp. The Industrial Hemp Development Act would legalize hemp plants while maintaining strong restrictions on marijuana possession. The bill even includes the collection of fees from farmers as revenue to run the program; during time of budget deficits, it won’t cost the state anything.

“The legislature finds that the development and use of industrial hemp can improve the state’s economy and agricultural vitality and the production of industrial hemp can be regulated so as not to interfere with the strict regulation of controlled substances in this state,” the bill states.

Currently, the United States imports the bulk of its hemp from China and Canada, and it’s used in the production of paper, rope, food, oils, biodegradable plastic and low-carbon concrete. According to Ray Hansen of the Iowa State University’s Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, the retail value of hemp products imported to the United States in 2007 was $350 million.

Eight states have approved hemp farming: North Dakota, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, West Virginia and Vermont. However, the Drug Enforcement Agency has so far refused to weigh in on whether hemp farmers would be prosecuted for growing the plant, which is the same species as marijuana but lacks the chemical composition to intoxicate users.

In North Dakota, farmer and Republican state Rep. David Monson has filed suit against the federal government for not clarifying the rules about hemp production. His state has been granting hemp production licenses for several years and many farmers have been reluctant to grow the crop for fear of imprisonment.

Here’s video of Monson’s press conference regarding the lawsuit:

The proposed bill would set up a similar application and inspection system in Minnesota to ensure that the hemp grown in the state cannot also be used to get high.

Interested farmers must pass a criminal background check, and their seeds must have documentation certifying that they don’t contain the active substances in marijuana. Farmers also have to submit information about sales of harvested hemp to the commissioner of agriculture.

The commissioner can inspect field and test plants to ensure they aren’t marijuana. And fees from hemp growing applications will pay for the program.

A similar bill passed the House agriculture committee in 2009, but died before reaching Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s desk.

The bill was introduced by DFL Reps. Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis, Andrew Falk of Murdock, Tina Liebling of Rochester, Michael Paymar of St. Paul, Kent Eken of Twin Valley, Lyle Koenen of Clara City, Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley, Erin Murphy of St. Paul, Karen Clark of Minneapolis, Carlos Mariani of St. Paul, Mindy Greiling of Roseville, Rick Hansen of South St. Paul, Tom Rukavina of Virginia, Bobby Joe Champion of Minneapolis, Leon Lillie of North St. Paul, Jim Davnie of Minneapolis, Marion Greene of Minneapolis, Jeff Hayden of Minneapolis, Kate Knuth of New Brighton, Dianne Loeffler of Minneapolis, Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis, Bill Hilty of Finlayson, Sheldon Johnson of St. Paul, and Alice Hausman of St. Paul.

Republicans who introduced the bill are Paul Torkelson of Nelson Township, Rod Hamilton of Mountain Lake, Greg Davids of Preston, Bob Gunther of Fairmont, Jim Abeler of Anoka, and Mark Buesgens of Jordan

The 88 signatories — which includes Minnesotans like restaurant owner Lucia Watson, IATP president Jim Harkness and Susan Stokes, head of the Farmers Legal Action Group, among others — write that the secretary’s vision should encompass: “recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment, biodiversity and the health of our children while implementing policies that place conservation, soil health, animal welfare and worker’s rights as well as sustainable renewable energy near the top of their agenda.”

Update: Ritchie tells MnIndy he’s not interested in the ag secretary job “at this point in time.”

The six suggested candidates and the letter’s text:

1. Gus Schumacher, former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture.
2. Chuck Hassebrook, executive director, Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, Neb.
3. Sarah Vogel, former Commissioner of Agriculture for North Dakota, lawyer, Bismarck, N.D.
4. Fred Kirschenmann, organic farmer, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Ames, Iowa, and president of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY.
5. Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State, former policy analyst in Minnesota’s Department of Agriculture under Governor Rudy Perpich, co-founder of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
6. Neil Hamilton, Dwight D. Opperman Chair of Law and director of the Agricultural Law Center, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.

Read the full letter:

Dear President-Elect Obama,

We congratulate you on your historic victory and welcome the change that your election promises to usher in for our nation. As leaders in the sustainable agriculture and rural advocacy community we supported you in record numbers during the caucus, primary and general election because of the family farm-friendly p olicies that you advocated during your campaign.

As our nation’s future president, we hope that you will take our concerns under advisement when nominating our next Secretary of Agriculture because of the crucial role this Secretary will play in revitalizing our rural economies, protecting our nation’s food supply and our environment, improving human health and well-being, rescuing the independent family farmer, and creating a sustainable renewable energy future.

We believe that our nation is at a critical juncture in regard to agriculture and its impact on the environment and that our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a broad vision for our collective future that is greater than what past appointments have called for.

Presently, farmers face serious challenges in terms of the high costs of energy, inputs and land, as well as continually having to fight an economic system and legislative policies that undermine their ability to compete in the open market. The current system unnaturally favors economies of scale, consolidation and market concentration and the allocation of massive subsidies for commodities, all of which benefit the interests of corporate agribusiness over the livelihoods of farm families.

In addition, America must come to understand the environmental and human health implications of industrialized agriculture. From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, global warming and air and water pollution, we believe our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a vision that calls for: recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment, biodiversity and the health of our children while implementing policies that place conservation, soil health, animal welfare and worker’s rights as well as sustainable renewable energy near the top of their agenda.

Today we have a nutritional and environmental deficit that is as real and as great as that of our national debt and must be addressed with forward thinking and bold, decisive action. To deal with this crisis, our next Secretary of Agriculture must work to advance a new era of sustainability in agriculture, humane husbandry, food and renewable energy production that revitalizes our nation’s soil, air and water while stimulating opportunities for new farmers to return to the land.

We believe that a new administration should address our nation’s growing health problems by promoting a children’s school lunch program that incorporates more healthy food choices, including the creation of opportunities for schools to purchase food from local sources that place a high emphasis on nutrition and sustainable farming practices. We recognize that our children’s health is our nation’s future and that currently schools are unable to meet these needs because they do not have the financial resources to invest in better food choices. We believe this reflects and is in line with your emphasis on childhood education as a child’s health and nutrition are fundamental to their academic success.

We understand that this is a tall order, but one that is consistent with the values and policies that you advocated for in your bid for the White House. We realize that more conventional candidates are likely under consideration; however, we feel strongly that the next head of the USDA should have a significant grassroots background in promoting sustainable agriculture to create a prosperous future for rural America and a healthy future for all of America’s citizens.

With this in mind, we are offering a list of leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to the goals that you articulated during your campaign and we encourage you to consider them for the role of Secretary of Agriculture.

Signatories:

1. David Murphy, Clear Lake, IA
2. Paul Willis, Thornton, IA
3. Michael Pollan, Berkeley, CA
4. Bill Niman, Bolinas, CA
5. Nicolette Hahn Niman, Bolinas, CA
6. Diane Halverson, Northfield, MN
7. Marlene Halverson, Northfield, MN
8. Aaron Woolf, Elizabethtown, NY
9. Judy Wicks, Philadelphia, PA
10. Wendy Wasserman, Iowa City, IA
11. Anna Lappé, Brooklyn, NY
12. Cornelia Butler Flora, Ames, IA
13. Eleanor Bertino, San Francisco, CA
14. Wes Jackson, Salina, KS
15. Wendell Berry, Port Royal, KY
16. Alice Waters, Berkeley, CA
17. Marion Nestle, New York, NY
18. Bill McKibben, Middlebury, VT
19. Rick Dove, New Bern, NC
20. Ann Cooper, Berkeley, CA
21. Michel Nischan, Fairfield, CT
22. Jerry DeWitt, Ames, IA
23. Michael Dimock, San Francisco, CA
24. Jim Harkness, Minneapolis, MN
25. Frank Reese, Lindsborg, KS
26. Jeff Odefey, Irvington, NY
27. Cathy Liss, Alexandria, VA
28. Eric Schlosser, Monterey, CA
29. Leigh Adcock, Ames, IA
30. Dan Barber, Pocantico Hills, NY
31. Francis Thicke, Fairfield, IA
32. Josh Viertel, Brooklyn, NY
33. Peter Hoffman, New York, NY
34. Tom Philpott, Valle Crucis, NC
35. Hillary Wilson, Valle Crucis, NC
36. Dan Imhoff, Healdsburg, CA
37. Michael Stumo, Sheffield, MA
38. Simran Sethi, Lawrence, KS
39. Lisa Stokke, Clear Lake, IA
40. Sarah Willis, Thornton, IA
41. Peter Kaminsky, Brooklyn, NY
42. Kurt Michael Friese, Iowa City, IA
43. Carl Safina, Stony Brook, NY
44. Anthony Garrett, Washington, DC
45. Eliza Maclean, Snow Camp, NC
46. Odessa Piper, Silver Spring, MD
47. Edward Behr, Barnet, VT
48. Phyllis Willis, Thornton, IA
49. Larry Cleverley, Mingo, IA
50. Jesse Ziff Cool, Menlo Park, CA
51. Curt Ellis, Austin, TX
52. Wenonah Hauter, Washington, D C
53. Patty Lovera, Washington, DC
54. John Ikerd, Columbia, MO
55. Lucia Watson, Minneapolis, MN
56. Deborah Madison, Galisteo, NM
57. George DeVault, Decorah, IA
58. Melanie DeVault, Decorah, IA
59. Andrea King Collier, Lansing, MI
60. Rosiland Creasy, Los Altos, CA
61. John Jeavons, Willits, CA
62. Samuel Fromartz, Washington DC
63. Frances Moore Lappe, Cambridge, MA
64. Denise O’Brien, Atlantic, IA
65. Arnell Hinkle, Berkeley, CA
66. Marjie Bender, Pittsboro, NC
67. Winona LaDuke, Ponsford, MN
68. Diane Hatz, New York, NY
69. Cory Schreiber, Portland, OR
70. Rick Bayless, Chicago, IL
71. Angie Tagtow, Elkhart, IA
72. Ralph Paige, East Point, GA
73. Clara Bingham, New York, NY
74. Arie McFarlen, Dell Rapids, SD
75. Bret Kortie, Dell Rapids, SD
76. Dwight Ault, Austin, MN
77. Amy P. Goldman, Rhinebeck, NY
78. Judith LaBelle, New York, NY
79. Patrick Martins, New York, NY
80. Mary Berry Smith, New Castle, KY
81. John Fisk, East Lansing, MI
82. Tim LaSalle, Kutztown, PA
83. Susan Stokes, St. Paul, MN
84. Jude Becker, Dyersville, IA

Pawlenty, a Republican, made the statement after visiting Morrison county in north-central Minnesota.

“Minnesota farmers are among the best in the world at what they do, but they can’t make it rain,” Gov. Pawlenty said in a statement. “We will work closely with farmers and USDA officials to make sure that Minnesota farmers have all the available resources to weather this ongoing drought.”

Pawlenty’s satement said he would “promptly request an agricultural disaster declaration for any county that meets the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s threshold of more than a 30 percent crop loss.”  The governor had previously requested that the USDA’s Farm Service Agency begin a formal damage assessment of counties impacted by drought. 

Additionally, Pawlenty announced that two state loan programs would be made available to farmers affected by the drought.

Much of Minnesota is in the midst of a severe drought, and all but the northwestern part of the state is facing at least some drought conditions.  The drought has affected the state during the past two growing seasons, the first significant period of drought since 1987-89, according to the Department of Natural Resources.