FRANKFORT, Ky. — The journey to renewed legal industrial hemp production has been slow. The farm bill paved the way to get research plots, but Kentucky’s first planting was held up when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stepped in and kept approximately 250 pounds of hemp seeds imported from Italy from being delivered, citing a lack of the proper permit from the state. It took court action to resolve the matter.

Next year should be without that type of interference, as the latest federal spending bill (see page 1A for details), passed in mid-December, contains language to safeguard against possible roadblocks from the feds.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, who with fellow Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie added language to the latest spending bill, said the measure will help prevent legal hemp seeds secured by state departments of agriculture and used for legal pilot programs from being blocked by DEA or other federal agencies.

“These legal pilot programs authorized by my legislation could help boost our state’s economy and lead to future jobs,” he added.

The language in the bill states: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used in contravention of Section 7606 (Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-79) by the Department of Justice or the Drug Enforcement Administration.”

Adam Watson, who oversees the state’s hemp program for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said it feels the language in the bill will safeguard the hemp program from contradictory federal regulations that would otherwise impede the progress made so far.

“We do think this will prevent any federal government overreach. That being said, it is good and does allow us to work with all of our federal partners and know where they’re at, (but) it doesn’t fix the long-term that industrial hemp is not regarded as agricultural crop. It’s still regarded as a controlled substance,” he said.

Watson added until that issue has been remedied, lesser actions, while beneficial, won’t fix the issue of allowing hemp to be legally grown as a production crop without federal approval.

“I think every action that builds momentum toward the ultimate allowance of industrial hemp as an agricultural crop, is a positive thing,” he said. “We get a lot of question about when will it become unrestricted and the truth is, we don’t know.

“We’re hopeful at a federal level with some bills be pre-filed that would affect the status of industrial hemp in a positive way, in our opinion, but we have no idea whether that’s something that will be taken up in the next session or in any way dealt with. We are hopeful the continued momentum will work in our favor.”

Watson said the thing to do now is let the research efforts speak for themselves in showing those against the legalization of industrial hemp that it is not the same thing as marijuana. Most farmers in this state don’t remember hemp as a production crop but the interest is there in a new generation of farmers.

Danielle Milbern, a college student from Fayette County, works in the family farming operation that consists of cattle and hay. The farm was also home to tobacco production until the quota buyout. She thinks industrial hemp can become a profitable crop for farmers, especially those with an existing tobacco infrastructure.

“Hopefully it will be our next cash crop, with tobacco on its way out,” she said. “We grew tobacco until the quota buyout, so we are hearing you can use a lot of the equipment used for tobacco production. We have all of that equipment still on the farm.”

Milbern added while she is interested in the opportunity to grow industrial hemp, there are many questions to answer before getting involved. “We don’t know what the market would be yet, so everyone is a little hesitant to get into it as big as they did with tobacco.”

She also said even though research efforts are under way, she would rather government restrictions be lifted completely before moving forward with the idea.

“Hemp sounds like it could be promising, but we want the federal government to get on board before we go too far in trying it out as a crop on our farm,” she explained.