iHemp Summit

Jeffrey Steiner is the director of Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center (GHIC). The GHIC is home to leading experts in hemp research, extension, and education and is the largest of its kind in the nation. Jeff leads strategic initiatives to advance hemp and its market potential through innovation across all aspects of supply chains, involving faculty from multiple disciplines who partner with federal and state agencies and industry sectors to help solve challenges to meeting the growing demand for food, fiber, chemicals, and other products made from hemp.

 

Jeff has broad leadership experience in academic and government settings with USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA Agricultural Research Service, and three universities where he has conducted, administered, and resourced systems research in food and agriculture, natural resources, bioenergy, and now hemp. He strategically cultivates multi-institutional-interdisciplinary teams and enhances their efforts through extensive networks of private, public, and international partners. As a science expert, he has served as an adviser to political appointees and government officials, as well as to commodity, conservation, and economic development organizations.


Jeff received his Ph.D. from Oregon State University in Seed Production & Technology, and B.S. and M.S. degrees from California State University Fresno. He is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and recipient of the career CSSA Seed Science Award. Jeff was raised on a diversified family farm near Visalia in the California San Joaquin Valley where his parents grew cotton, alfalfa hay, grain, and fruit and nut tree crops, and raised hogs and cattle.