SSWD grant project provides education, training and internship opportunities for UMES students

A grant project funded by the USDA 1890 Center for Excellence in Student Success and Workforce development enabled University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Central State University students receive training and education in hemp production and marketing. The UMES industrial hemp program involves faculty expertise in hemp agronomy, breeding and biotechnology, pest management, processing and marketing. An indoor hemp facility provides students training in hemp propagation and indoor cultivation. A one-acre field trial was established in 2021 and students received the opportunity to study hemp planting, canopy and pest management. Five students were recruited to receive training through the project. Students spent time in growing hemp, weed management, identifying male plants for rogueing and canopy management operations such as pinching, shoot and leaf thinning and shoot training. Students also learnt how to identify the various diseases and insect pests, and physiological disorder in hemp at different growth stages. Following hemp flowering, students were trained in flower sample collection for THC and CBD analysis. Samples were sent to a commercial lab for analysis and certificates of analyses were interpreted by students. After 120 days of growth and flowering, hemp was harvested and transferred indoors for post-harvest processing. Students were involved in the harvesting, drying, trimming, bucking and stripping process to convert hemp flower into value-added products.

Students have also extensively utilized an indoor hemp research facility that has been established for maintaining hemp germplasm and carrying out vegetative propagation. Students have received training in hemp clone production using cuttings under soil and aeroponic conditions. Students are currently being trained in feminized seed production where different concentrations of silver thiosulfate are sprayed on female hemp plants to produce male flower production and seeding through self-pollination. In addition to the above techniques, in vitro culture for production of clean plants using micropropagation is also being adopted by students in their education and training on hemp.

UMES students completed a one-week reciprocal visit to Central State University. Students were introduced to analytical chemistry techniques for estimation of cannabinoids and terpenes in hemp flower. Students also got the opportunity to use smoke machines and carry out quality analyses from hemp combustible products. The outcomes of the project have been largely successful. Due to training received in the project, two students received summer employment by hemp companies in Princess Anne, MD. The students got the opportunity to use the education and training received from the project on the jobs they were hired to perform. We continue to train students through the fall semester in various aspects of hemp cultivation and expect to see a positive outcome in students obtaining hemp-related jobs in the future.