CropLogic is tired of watching crops grow for other people. Now it wants its own farm to grow industrial hemp – in Oregon.

Digital agtech CropLogic (ASX:CLI), which has been known so far for its technology that monitors and helps manage crops and soil, hired Green Rush Advisory Group and Green Light Law Group in November last year to advise it on whether it could make some money dabbling in cannabis.

Industrial hemp contains low levels of THC and slightly higher levels of cannabidiol (CDB). It was legalised in mid-December when the US government passed the 2018 farm bill.

CropLogic was satisfied with the advice it received and is now actively looking for trial farming in the Pacific Northwest state.

It comes as CLI shares trade at all-time lows; after offering 40 million shares at 20c a pop it has slid to 1.3c.

CropLogic (ASX:CLI) shares since it listed.

James Cooper-Jones, CropLogic CEO, said the company was working towards land procurement and processing arrangements with the trial expected to begin in the 2019 northern hemisphere growing season.

“This is an important milestone for CropLogic as it pursues its strategy of vertical integration, as it allows us to demonstrate the ability to produce crops using our agronomic experience, local knowledge, and our technology,” he said.

“The emerging hemp market in North America provides CropLogic the opportunity to demonstrate how it and its technology may be able to service this market.”

As it looks for up to 150 acres (60ha) of land, CropLogic has signed an LoI with NextLeaf, a Canadian-based cannabis processing technology company, to help it figure how exactly to make the best hemp.

“We would use our agronomy expertise, knowledge and experience servicing similar crops such as hops, aerial imagery and digital agtech, to farm approximately 100 to 150 acres of industrial hemp, with Nextleaf providing knowledge and experience to advise on suggested hemp varieties and processing,” the company said.

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