North Dakota officials have issued the nation's first licenses to grow industrial hemp, though they do not guarantee that farmers will actually be able to grow the crop.

Farmers Dave Monson and Wayne Hauge, who got the state licenses Tuesday, still must meet federal requirements before they can plant their fields. The Drug Enforcement Administration requires a $2,293 annual registration fee, which is nonrefundable even if the agency does not grant a farmer permission to grow hemp.

"It's taken us a lot longer than (expected) to get here, and I'm thinking we still have a ways to go," said Monson, of Osnabrock, who first became interested in growing industrial hemp 10 years ago.

The North Dakota Agriculture Department approved rules late last year for the production of hemp, a cousin of marijuana that can be used to make everything from paper to lotion.

Several states have authorized industrial hemp farming, but North Dakota is the first to grant commercial hemp farming licenses, according to the hemp advocacy group Vote Hemp. A bill in the Legislature also would give the state regulatory authority over hemp processors.

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson in late December asked the DEA to waive its registration fee and also allow the state to regulate hemp farming within its borders, but federal officials rejected that request.

Joseph Rannazzisi, a deputy assistant administrator with the DEA, said federal law does not allow the agency to delegate its ability to regulate hemp to state officials. Although the DEA may waive registration requirements, it has done so only for law enforcement officers and other officials, he said.

Johnson said he is frustrated that the DEA makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp.

"There's something rather ludicrous to have to register as someone who wants to grow marijuana," he said.

The North Dakota House is considering a resolution that urges Congress to direct the DEA to differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana. Another resolution urges Congress to facilitate the legal growing of hemp.

Monson, who is the state House's assistant Republican majority leader, and Hauge, a farmer from Ray, said they will pay the federal fee.

Johnson said he will deliver the registration applications when he meets with DEA officials in Washington, D.C., early next week to try again to persuade them to relax what he called an unreasonable federal fee requirement.

The state licenses issued Tuesday are "about trying to demonstrate that it can be done … to prove a point, that this is a viable industry and we should be able to participate in it," Johnson said.

To get a state license, farmers must pay a fee of $5 per acre, with a minimum of $150, along with $52 to cover the costs of fingerprinting and a criminal background check. They also must provide coordinates for their fields, and make them available at any time to state inspections.

Johnson said that task can be handled by existing inspectors who monitor everything from pesticides to weeds, and would be a minor expense for the Agriculture Department unless the number of hemp farmers grows significantly.

The department currently is processing 16 other hemp-growing applications from farmers, he said.

Johnson said asking Congress to take action if the DEA will not change its position is a possibility, but he does not favor that option.

"DEA has the authority to do what we're asking them to do," he said. "Asking Congress to tell DEA to exercise the authority they already have - that's not a good argument to make."

The resolutions are HCR3042 and HCR3028.

The bill is SB2099.