DENVER - It's another milestone for the state of Colorado when it comes to cannabis.

State agriculture officials today showed off the first domestic certified hemp seeds. The state Department of Agriculture has been working for years to produce hemp seeds that will consistently result in plants that are low enough in the chemical THC to qualify as hemp -- and not as its intoxicating cousin, marijuana.

Hemp production was authorized by Congress in 2014. But farmers who want to grow it must have state certification.

Colorado says it has six varieties of certified seed, proven to be genetically pure and to produce hemp and not marijuana.

Farmers in states that allow hemp production can buy the seeds in 2017.