Kentucky Prepares to Plant First Legal Hemp Crop

Kentucky’s first legal hemp crop since the 1950s is ready to go into the ground this month, reported Southeast Farm Press.

The federal government classifies hemp as a controlled substance, just as it does marijuana. But now that the farm bill includes legislation to legalize it, Kentucky wants to see if the crop can once again become economically viable.

James Comer, the state’s agriculture commissioner, has pushed for this for several years. He told the Associated Press that Kentucky’s hemp crop will be planted this month and other states want in on some of the action.

“We passed it in Kentucky. Indiana’s following suit. Tennessee’s followed suit passing legislation,” Comer said.

But the first shipment of industrial hemp seeds was held by customs officials in Chicago who didn’t know anything about Kentucky’s new attitude toward the fiber and oilseed crop. Comer said his office had to weed through federal bureaucracy and educate customs and border patrol agents to get the seed into the state.

Kentucky Senate Bill 50 exempts industrial hemp from the state controlled substances act but mandates that Kentucky follow all federal rules and regulations with respect to industrial hemp.

The 2014 farm bill allows state departments of agriculture, in states where industrial hemp is legal, to administer industrial hemp pilot programs in conjunction with universities for the purposes of research and development.