DR. HARUMI KIKUCHI, Ph.D.

Born in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, currently resides in Asahikawa City, Japan. Graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University in March 1973, dropped out of the doctoral course at the same university in June 1977, and joined the Central Agricultural Experiment Station in Hokkaido. His specialty is crop breeding. He was a visiting researcher at Cornell University’s School of Life Sciences, head of the Paddy Rice Breeding Department at the Kamikawa National Agricultural Experiment Station, and director of the Tokachi National Agricultural Experiment Station before retiring in March 2011 as director of the Kamikawa National Agricultural Experiment Station. In August 2014, he established the Hokkaido Hemp Association. In August 2014, he established the Hokkaido Hemp Association and became its representative director. In August 2014, he established the Hokkaido Hemp Association, and has been engaged in experimental cultivation of hemp under a license as a cannabis researcher for the past three years. He is an associate member of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA). He is also a member of the Japanese Society of Organic Agriculture and a doctor of agriculture at Hokkaido University.

About Hokkaido Hemp Association
The Hokkaido Hemp Association (HIHA) was established in 2014 with the aim of promoting and raising awareness of hemp (industrial hemp) in Hokkaido, and has been working to appeal to the national government, the Diet, the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, and the Hokkaido Assembly for legal improvements necessary for the development of the domestic hemp industry, to support the acquisition of cultivator licenses, and to support the import of superior hemp products and varieties from overseas.