This question comes up, repeatedly, throughout the year, most recently in Marion County. If someone calls the Master Gardener help desk, or submits a question through the Ask an Expert Service, can Master Gardener volunteers provide advice or support for growing hemp or cannabis? The short answer is ‘no’.
Here is the full reply from Jay Noller, Director of OSU’s Global Hemp Innovation Center:
Hemp is a legal crop so long as the grower holds a current license from the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The laws of Oregon allow personal garden of four hemp plants (or 4 marijuana plants), but this is not federally legal in Oregon or the rest of the USA. This personal allowance is different in other states by their laws. Thus, by university policy, OSU employees and volunteers may not interact with unlicensed hemp growers (even home hemp growers) nor cannabis / marijuana growers. As a volunteer with Master Gardeners you are not allowed to engage public on Cannabis sativa, be that hemp or marijuana. If needed, please direct them to our website to learn more about commercial production of hemp in Oregon and beyond: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/hemp . We fully engage with state-licensed hemp growers on the details of producing this crop, and anyone you engage with may read our literature and watch our hemp videos online at their discretion.