Kentucky is planning on setting up pilot industrial hemp projects across the state as partnership programs undertaken jointly with institutions of higher learning.
Industrial hemp products (photo – kyagr.com)
Industrial hemp is the same type of plant species as marijuana, and its production and sale has until now been banned.
The pilot projects being undertaken now were made possible by amendments included in the United States Farm Bill that became law on Feb 7, 2014.
The Kentucky General Assembly has already approved its own legislation (Senate Bill 50) that legalizes industrial hemp production in the state. The Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission has also been revived.
The KY Dept. of Agriculture has also set up an industrial hemp factspage on their website. It states that the global market for hemp includes more than 25,000 products, including textiles and fabrics, yarns, paper, carpets and home furnishings, construction materials, auto parts, animal bedding, industrial oils, nutritional supplements, cosmetics and body care products, etc.
Current industry estimates show that the annual U.S. retail sales of all hemp-based products exceeds $300 million.
However, federal law still doesn’t approve commercial production of hemp, so any crop grown in the pilot projects will be within the confines of a research project that must be related to growth, cultivation and/or marketing of hemp.
There are five hemp pilots being planned by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. One will be a test project in Louisville at an as yet undermined Brownfield site. This project, which may involve the University of Louisville, will test whether a hemp crop can help clean up the soil on contaminated industrial plots.
Another pilot project in Eastern Kentucky will study the use of hemp as a renewable fuel source for producing alternative energy. Kentucky was one of the largest producers of industrial hemp during WWII, but there has no hemp planted for the last 50 years.
Commissioner Comer said that he and KY Attorney General Jack Conway have been communicating directly for the last couple of months about hemp production in Kentucky, and added that cooperation between law enforcement and agriculture was a critical element in moving this industry forward.
Commissioner Comer said he appreciates the AG’s help in overcoming the legal obstacles to this new market for Kentucky farmers.
The AG has furthermore pledged to work with Commissioner Comer in the state’s bid to obtain a federal waiver from the U.S. DEA to allow Kentucky to expand industrial hemp production for commercial purposes.
via:http://www.economicdevelopmenthq.com/blog/kentucky-industrial-hemp-pilot-projects/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economicdevelopmenthq+%28Economic+Development+Blog%29
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