A meetup for those interested in growing and producing hemp is planned for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Simply Celia’s on South Main Street in Wayland.

Hemp, now entirely legal in Michigan, offers a burgeoning market provide huge sustainable opportunity. Farming, processing for fiber, seed, food products, biomass, CBD or more than 25,000 other products, affords opportunity in many directions.

Meetup organizer Virgil Gleason said, “The world market for hemp is well established and has functioned for thousands of years, the US hemp market functional at one time has been held back for decades and now gets to play catchup.
My drive is to help develop the community and infrastructure required for the local entrepreneur to flourish and sustain a position in a market dominated by national and international players.

Gleason said the meeting generally will function under the Roberts Rules of Order. A volunteer time keeper, and someone to shoot a couple photos are needed.

The itinerary:

• 6:30 — meet and greet, coffee and tea available, self-serve.
• 7:00 -7:15 — Short intro by Gleason.
• 7:16 -7:30 — Time for each person to share why they are here and what their primary questions or concerns may be.
• 7:31 – 8:00 Generate a list of the top five to ten questions the group has.
• 8:01 – 8:20 — Discussion about what can be done to help develop and maintain a viable position in hemp.
• 8:25 – 8:30 — Closing comments.