Startup tech company to partner with SEMO for hemp agricultural opportunities

SIKESTON, Mo. (KBSI) – Southeast Missouri State University is teaming up with a tech startup company to bring agriculture opportunities to the area.

Saluna is a tech startup company out of St. Louis focused on delivering a new crop to market that will hire SEMO students to help plant hemp near the SEMO’s extension campus in Sikeston.

According to the company the use of hemp agriculturally hasn’t been seen in about 100 years, since before prohibition.

The use of the hemp would be used for crops, livestock and oil.

Michael Gerau, is the Chief Technology Officer of Saluna. Saluna is a startup company based in St. Louis focused on delivering a new crop to market, specifically hemp. Gerau shares that after the hemp was grown the goal is that it would then be used for things like fuel through its oil and the left-over meal would then be fed to livestock and farmers could grow it.  

“Once we pinpoint and identify that certain type of genetics, we’ll move on to increase that seed and commercialize it so that growers can that growers can include it into their rotation in between corn and soy” says Gerau.

Saluna is working with Southeast Missouri State University to grow the hemp at Semos Sikeston extension center giving students a full experience.

“This is an opportunity where I can bring what we do at Saluna to the students at SEMO and make it real and get them to have hands on opportunities to doing some research” says Gerau. 

Gerau says they plan on starting the planting process as soon as possible and he shares that hemp is often associated with marijuana because the plant looks the exact same, but the difference is the amount of THC inside the plant. The hemp plants they will grow will have a very low or none at all THC level.  

“Inside the flower tissue will be an absence of the intoxicant that many people use marijuana for recreationally.” 

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