Before the winter storms, the Texas Department of Agriculture announced federal rules have been approved for producing hemp, with a number of producer licenses approved here in Grimes County.
Out of more than 1,100 producer hemp licenses in Texas, 19 are in the Brazos Valley. Two of the 19 licenses belong to Texas A&M AgriLife agencies on the flagship campus. One is AgriLife Research and the other is AgriLife Extension.
In Grimes County, there are two producer licenses in Anderson, and one in Bedias.
There is one producer license in College Station, one in Bryan, two in Caldwell, three to the same person in Normangee, three in Marquez…two of those to the same person…and one in Centerville, Oakwood, Flynn, and Midway.
The state has also issued three licenses for handling and sampling hemp in the Brazos Valley. One is in College Station, another in Franklin, and one in Caldwell.
The state reports giving permits to grow hemp around the state, in more than 15 million square feet in greenhouses and on more than five thousand acres of land.