A $2,293-a-year federal registration fee for growing industrial hemp is ridiculous, says North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, who wants the government to waive the fee so more state farmers can grow the crop.

Johnson said he sent a letter on Wednesday to federal Drug Enforcement Administration chief Karen Tandy, objecting to the fee and to confusing paperwork associated with the registration.

"I think it's ridiculous that you have a fee exceeding a couple of thousand dollars for someone to grow industrial hemp," Johnson said.

Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the DEA in Washington, D.C., said the annual registration fee is set by Congress. It also applies to such businesses as pharmaceutical companies that uses opium to manufacture morphine, he said.

North Dakota farmers may start applying for state licenses to grow industrial hemp on Jan. 1, though federal drug agents must approve each license, Johnson said. The state licenses require a criminal background check of farmers who want to grow hemp, the biological cousin of marijuana. The sale of hemp and the location of the hemp fields must be documented.

Johnson said the rules crafted by his department make North Dakota the first state to allow commercial hemp cultivation, but the DEA continues to be a hurdle.

Hemp contains trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a banned substance, and it falls under federal anti-drug rules, the DEA says.

"For anybody considering manufacturing a controlled substance, the fee is required," Courtney said. "The fee is standard across the board, whether it's a big or little company."

Paying the registration fee does not guarantee the applicant will be approved, Johnson said. The fee is nonrefundable.

Besides the federal fee, the state will charge $150 for its license, Johnson said. Applicants also must pay for a criminal background check, which will cost about $100, he said.

"I expect there will be handful of folks - maybe fewer than a handful and maybe just one - who will apply because somebody wants to test this," Johnson said.

Industrial hemp would be an alternative cash crop for North Dakota farmers because it's used to make food, clothing, cosmetics, paper, rope and other products, Johnson said. It's the only crop that would have to be licensed in North Dakota, he said.

State Rep. David Monson, R-Osnabrock, said he intends to apply. Monson, who also is a farmer, was the primary sponsor of the first bill to authorize research on industrial hemp in North Dakota, which was approved by the 1997 Legislature.

Hemp is grown legally in Canada, 25 miles north of Monson's farm in northeastern North Dakota. Hemp production has been legal in Canada since 1998, after 60 years of prohibition.

Monson said the cost of the fees "takes a lot of the shine off" for many potential hemp farmers in the state.

"You can't possibly make it come out as a profit, if that's the way the fees are going to be," Monson said.

He believes the DEA will keep the fee in place intentionally, as a stumbling block for potential growers.

"If they can't get you one way, I suppose they'll get us another," Monson said. "If they're going to try to make it impossible by jacking up the price and impossible to make a profit, it's probably going to end up going through the courts."