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Kentucky starts on second season of hemp cultivation
 


By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The 2014 growing season marked the first time in decades industrial hemp was legally planted in the state thanks to a provision included in the farm bill and state legislation passed nearly two years to create an administrative framework to oversee hemp production.
The second season is already under way as growers and processors who want to participate in a second pilot year could sign up under a Jan. 1 deadline. By all indications, the first growing season went well in a year that brought a variety of weather changes. Since Kentucky once led the nation in the production of industrial hemp, most of those involved in the pilot projects believe the crop will once again grow well here.
State Agriculture Commissioner James Comer said the first round of pilot projects with the universities and individual farmers in 2014 yielded a tremendous amount of data about production methods, seed varieties, harvesting and processing techniques and uses for the harvested hemp.
“We’re looking to conduct a wide scope of pilot projects in 2015. When the day comes that commercial hemp production is open to all producers and processors in Kentucky, we want to be ready,” he said.
Adam Watson, who oversees the hemp program for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA), said in addition to signing up those looking to grow the crop in 2015, people interested in processing hemp into a variety of products are also becoming involved.
“We’re looking at some people who are evaluating whether or not they have the ability to process the stalks into fiber, options for grain producers for something like oil extraction and things of that nature,” he said.
While growing the crop has to come first, the state isn’t wasting time at the processing end. Currently there is a state engineering firm looking at the process of turning the fiber into a material the polymer industry can use to make products such as automobile parts.
That company will be receiving hemp stalks from the 2014 crop to begin the processing procedure, according to Watson. He also said there has been much interest in the extraction of oil from the plant, and that process will happen in time.
“Long-term, the viability of the industrial hemp industry is going to be based on processing, and so what we’re trying to do now is determine if there is existing entities or an infrastructure in Kentucky that we can take advantage of and repurpose for hemp processing,” he said.
“By the same token, what makes it difficult for us, since we are operating under the farm bill authorization, our pilot project system is just a five-year period and we’ve already gone through one of those years.”
That means multimillion-dollar investments will not likely occur until some sustainability is involved, such as the federal government lifting the ban and dropping industrial hemp from its Controlled Substances list. “Commissioner Comer is continuing efforts at a federal level and we do know there have been some bills pre-filed. Unfortunately, they have been pre-filed before,” said Watson.
Since hemp was banned without permission to grow it by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in 1970, there have been several attempts to get it removed from the list. Kentucky’s U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul are just two of the many legislators who have sponsored legislation that would remove federal restrictions on industrial hemp.
Watson said the state has a system in place and the pilot projects are moving forward in an effort to make Kentucky a leader once again in the production of industrial hemp. For more information on the state’s industrial hemp program, go to www.kyagr.com/hemp
For potential pilot project growers and processors of industrial hemp, KDA requires “a physical address of the location for the production fields to be used to grow, process or store industrial hemp must be submitted with the application. Applicants are asked to provide global positioning coordinates for the property if possible. Applicants who are selected will undergo background checks and site visits.”
A person with a felony drug conviction within 10 years of submitting an application shall not be eligible to participate in any pilot project. The application is available for download on the department’s website listed above. Applications may be completed electronically and submitted to doris.hamilton@ky.gov
Applications also may be printed, filled out and mailed to: Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Industrial Hemp Program, 111 Corporate Dr., Frankfort, KY 40601. Applicants may attach a business plan or other supporting documents. Applications expire Dec. 31, 2015; successful applicants will be notified in late January.
12/17/2014