KDA Comment Period Open Until April 30
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KDA Draft Hemp Regulations Available for Review
Stimulus Dollars Available for Hemp Farmers and Small Businesses
U.S. Hemp Roundtable info@hempsupporter.com
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Big Hemp News in Kentucky…With National Impact
Both historically, and more recently as prohibition has been lifted, Kentucky has played an outsized role in the development of the nation’s hemp industry. From 19th century hemp farmer/US House Speaker Henry Clay to today’s political leaders, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. Reps. James Comer and Thomas Massie, Kentuckians have served as national leaders in legalizing, cultivating and commercializing the crop.
Today, a significant step was taken by Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles: Quarles announced this morning that Kentucky would NOT be submitting a hemp plan for USDA approval under the agency’s Interim Final Rule (IFR), but rather would continue to operate its program under the 2014 Farm Bill authorization. Just as with the concerns we shared here (and in our private meetings with USDA leadership), Quarles recognized that many outstanding issues remain regarding the IFR, and that these issues that are not likely to be resolved before planting season begins. Instead, the Department will share its recommendations with the USDA as it develops a final rule, hopefully in time for the 2021 growing season.
We imagine that other states will follow Kentucky’s lead and operate under the 2014 Farm Bill authorization as the USDA listens to stakeholders and the public as it designs its Final Rule. This would make a strong statement that the IFR needs a substantial overhaul, and given the laudable public outreach conducted by the USDA, we are confident that the agency will listen and respond.
Hemp Supporters, that’s your cue…
If you haven’t yet submitted comments to the USDA about its Interim Final Rule, the deadline is next week, January 29. You can submit your comments here. And please feel free to echo any of the comments the Roundtable made, which are available here
SOURCE: U.S. Hemp Roundtable
KENTUCKY CANNABIS RALLY AT THE ROTUNDA IN FRANKFORT!
The people of Kentucky, all groups, all BILLS for Cannabis whether it be “Medical” or “Adult Use”, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Independent, are requested to join us in Frankfort Kentucky on March 11, 2020 to show our support for the effort in our State!
Please plan to be there!
LOCATED AT CAPITOL ROTUNDA
700 CAPITOL AVE
FRANKFORT, KY 40601
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/19rs/hb136.html
AN ACT relating to medicinal marijuana and making an appropriation therefor.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/20rs/hb148.html
AN ACT relating to the regulation of cannabis and making an appropriation therefor.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/20rs/hb236.html
AN ACT relating to hemp and declaring an emergency.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/20rs/hb221.html
AN ACT relating to marijuana possession.
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/20rs/hb102.html
AN ACT relating to employment-related drug screens.
RELATED GROUPS/PAGES ON FACEBOOK!
MY RIGHT TO DECIDE
https://www.facebook.com/MYRIGHTTODECIDE/
KY4MM
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ky4mm/?ref=br_rs
KENTUCKY 411 UNCENSORED
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2091597957797912/
KENTUCKY MARIJUANA PARTY
https://www.facebook.com/USMjPartyKY/?ref=br_rs
FREE THE WEED KENTUCKY
1937 Marihuana Tax Act – First Convictions — In A Nutshell
I received the following thru email from “Uncle Mike”… Thought it was well worth passing on…. No “cannabis” law is a good “cannabis” law!
1937 Marihuana Tax Act – First Convictions — In A Nutshell
Uncle Mike 10/29/2019
Historically significant fact check list addressing common issues & problems with dates, people, places, charges and the chain of events surrounding America’s first federal marijuana convictions. This short 1-page report is based on the larger 190-page criminal case study book entitled:
U. S. District Court, Denver, Colorado Imposes First Federal Marihuana Law Penalties, Compilation of Publications, Interviews, Criminal Files and Photographs of Moses Baca & Samuel Caldwell, By Uncle Mike, Copyright Nov 12 2008, Feb 17 2010, May 5 2019.
The Marihuana Tax Act was approved August 2, 1937 and went into effect Friday, October 1st 1937.
Moses Baca, age 23, Mexican American born in Trinidad Colorado, was charged with violating the act on Monday the 4th.
Samuel R. Caldwell, age 57, white guy from Indiana, was charged with violating the act on Tuesday the 5th.
Federal grand jury indictments were issued on Thursday, October 7th, and both men were then brought before the court and sentenced on Friday, October 8th, 1937 after pleading guilty.
Leading the first federal court proceedings was Moses Baca, who received an 18-month sentence in Leavenworth Penitentiary for possessing ¼ ounce of marihuana. A search of his home was conducted at 2625 California Street, after a drunk & disturbance arrest, revealing one-fourth ounce of marijuana in his bureau drawer.
Following Baca’s possession case, Samuel R. Caldwell was sentenced. He received 4 years in the Leavenworth Penitentiary for selling 3 marihuana cigarettes to a man he met on the street named Claude Morgan and possessing 4 pounds of marihuana later found hidden in his Lothrop Hotel room at 1755 Lawrence. According to Caldwell’s friend, Alex Rahoutis, he had only been dealing a few months when he was busted by federal agents, and apparently didn’t smoke weed himself.
After their release:
Moses Baca, after his release on Dec 10, 1938, he returned to Denver, Colorado, but in 1940 he moved with his family to California. Moses ended up in Los Angeles General Hospital and died on March 19, 1948 of a ruptured pulmonary tuberculosis abscess that caused blood poisoning. The disease was most likely contracted in Denver as TB suffers commonly came to Colorado thinking the states dry air would help cure them.
Samuel Caldwell, after serving his sentence, was released on Nov. 5th, 1940. Approximately 8
months after his release Caldwell died in Denver, Colorado on June 24, 1941 of Primary Carcinoma of the Liver from excessive drinking.
Agencies clarify requirements for providing financial services to hemp-related businesses
From Board of Governors Federal Reserve System
Agencies clarify requirements for providing financial services to hemp-related businesses
December 3, 2019
WASHINGTON-Four federal agencies in conjunction with the state bank regulators today issued a statement clarifying the legal status of hemp growth and production and the relevant requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for banks providing services to hemp-related businesses.
The statement emphasizes that banks are no longer required to file suspicious activity reports (SAR) for customers solely because they are engaged in the growth or cultivation of hemp in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. For hemp-related customers, banks are expected to follow standard SAR procedures, and file a SAR if indicia of suspicious activity warrants.
This statement provides banks with background information on the legal status of hemp, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) interim final rule on the production of hemp, and the BSA considerations when providing banking services to hemp-related businesses.
This statement also indicates that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will issue additional guidance after further reviewing and evaluating the USDA interim final rule.
The statement was issued by the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FinCEN, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Banks can contact the USDA, state departments of agriculture, and tribal governments with further questions regarding the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) and its implementing regulations.
Joint Guidance on Providing Financial Services to Customers Engaged in Hemp-Related Businesses (PDF)
For Federal Reserve Board media inquiries please contact Darren Gersh at 202-452-2955.
On Tuesday, November 5th, WE Must Be The Change In Kentucky! Vote HICKS/CORMICAN! This Is Why…
On Tuesday, November 5th, the most important election in Kentucky in many years is about to happen!
I am not here to argue with anyone. I am here to present the facts and my opinion as I see it.
Therefore,
First of all, you must vote to see change! If you are eligible to Vote and are registered to do so – You must VOTE! It is your Civic Duty. And if you are eligible to vote but did not register, shame on you!
IF you want a change in your Government, you have to vote for the people who will CHANGE the way things are being done in Kentucky!
You CANNOT vote for a Democrat or Republican and expect anything to change – only to get worse! So if that is what you want, then go for it!
Otherwise, BE THE CHANGE that Kentucky must have in order to succeed! John Hicks and Ann Cormican – Libertarian are running for the most important office in the State. That is where we must start! At the top!
On November 1st, Rep. Jason Nemes prefiled this years “medical marijuana bill” for Kentucky. It will become House Bill 136 when the Session opens in January, and if it passes we will once again become Slaves to the system! A few points on the Bill as written are:
* Department for Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Control to implement and regulate the medicinal marijuana program in Kentucky;
* establish the Division of Medicinal Marijuana within the Department of Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Control;
* establish restrictions on the possession of medicinal marijuana by qualifying patients, visiting patients, and designated caregivers;
* establish certain protections for cardholders;
* establish professional protections for practitioners; to provide for the authorizing of practitioners by state licensing boards to issue written certifications for the use medicinal marijuana;
* establish professional protections for attorneys;
* prohibit the possession and use of medicinal marijuana while operating a motor vehicle;
* to prohibit smoking of medicinal marijuana;
* to permit an employer to restrict the possession and use of medicinal marijuana by an employee;
* to require the department to implement and operate a registry identification card program; to establish requirements for registry identification cards; to establish registry identification card fees; to require the department to operate a provisional licensure receipt system; to establish the application requirements for a registry identification card; to establish when the department may deny an application for a registry identification card;
* establish certain responsibilities for cardholders; to establish when a registry identification card may be revoked;
* establish various cannabis business licensure categories; to establish tiering of cannabis business licenses; to require certain information be included in an application for a cannabis business license; to establish when the department may deny an application for a cannabis business license;
* to establish rules for local sales, including establishing the process by which a local legislative body may prohibit the operation of cannabis businesses within its territory and the process for local ordinances and ballot initiatives;
* establish technical requirements for cannabis businesses;
* to establish limits on the THC content of medicinal marijuana that can be produced or sold in the state;
* to establish requirements for cannabis cultivators, including cultivation square footage limits; to establish requirements for cannabis dispensaries; to establish requirements for safety compliance facilities; to establish requirements for cannabis processors; to establish procedures for the department to inspect cannabis businesses;
* to exempt certain records and information from the disclosure under the Kentucky Open Records Act;
* to establish that nothing in the bill requires government programs or private insurers to reimburse for the cost of use; to establish the medicinal marijuana trust fund; to establish the local medicinal marijuana trust fund; and to establish procedures for the distribution of local cannabis trust fund moneys;
* create a new section of KRS Chapter 138 to establish an excise tax of 12% for cultivators and processors for selling to dispensaries; to require that 80% of the revenue from the excise taxes be deposited into the medicinal marijuana trust fund; to require that 20% of the revenue from the excise taxes be deposited into the local medicinal marijuana trust fund; amend KRS 342.815 to establish that the Employer’s Mutual Insurance Authority shall not be required to provide coverage to an employer if doing so would subject the authority to a violation of state or federal law;
Is this what you want?
The above is not all inclusive of the regulations, and they will no doubt change again when it is introduced in January. Read the Bill!
Please note that there are NO provisions for “smokable cannabis”, and NO mention of Children’s rights either. There are NO provisions for growing your own plants, and this BILL in my opinion is being promoted for the Corporate/Pharmaceutical industry.
Out of all the Bills previously submitted for “medical” or “adult use” Cannabis in Kentucky this is the worst one yet! Do not fall for the legal lies which they are feeding you because they are preying on your fears for your Children’s needs, mostly. The fact is, what M.D., is going to give you permission or a written statement that will give you the right to medicate your child with Cannabis? The answer to that is virtually none, and if there was even one that WOULD do it there is no guarantee that you will be able to access that Physician!
The bill would prohibit the smoking of marijuana for medical purposes, but would allow other forms of consumption, such as edibles, oils and pills. A 12% excise tax is proposed for cultivators and processors for selling to dispensaries. LINK
I have consulted with several other Senior Activists in Kentucky over this issue and we all surmised basically the same opinions on the matter! This is in NO way a repeal of prohibition of Cannabis and in no way will it ascertain our rights to this plant – medically or otherwise. It is however, worth some $$$ to Corporate Ventures and Kentucky Government as it now stands!
In my opinion, for those parents who have seriously ill children in need of this medicine they need to consider moving to a honest medical cannabis State such as Colorado or elsewhere. For those who are unable to do this due to financial situations we must set up a fund to enable them to do so. I can honestly say that if it were my child that is exactly what I would do! Not because I want to leave my home in Kentucky, but because my Childs life is more important and I would be compelled to do so, IF John Hicks and Ann Cormican are not elected.
The “Undergreen Railroad” is one such organization. I will look into this organization further, especially if Hicks/Cormican are not elected, because you all are going to need it!
Finally, we come to the third candidate in the governor’s race. Libertarian John Hicks. John is a Vietnam Era Army veteran, a former school teacher, and currently an IT consultant. He has a BA Degree in Political Science and History. He has never held political office, but ran previously for State Representative (District 43) in 2018. John is pro-life and believes government should stay out of personal issues.
John supports the legalization of marijuana, expanded gaming, and the development of hemp as sources of additional state revenue (better than raising taxes!). He also believes that the best way to compensate for budget shortfalls is to reduce the size of government and streamlining operations. Additionally, John Hicks supports election reform; specifically by introducing run-offs, using ranked choice voting, proportional representation, multi member districts which would end partisan gerrymandering. LINK
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Libertarian candidate for Governor of Kentucky at Hicks/Cormican for Kentucky Governor
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Chair at The Libertarian Party of Louisville – KY District 3
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Principal at Gulfbridge Communications
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Former Libertarian candidate for House District 43 (the gerrymandered district along the river) at Kentucky House of Representatives
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Former Consultant at Technology Solutions Company
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Former Consultant at National Grange Mutual
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Former IT Manager at Gunster Yoakley And Stewart
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Former Contracting Consultant at Coca-Cola
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Former Editor and Publisher at Fern Creek Neighbor
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Former Programmer analyst at GE
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Former Classroom Teacher at Jefferson County Ky. Public Schools
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Former Communications Center Specialist at United States Army
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Former Taxi Cab Driver at Yellow Cab of Louisville
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Studied Economics at Stetson University
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Went to Seneca High School
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Lives in Louisville, Kentucky
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From Louisville, Kentucky
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Joined May 2008
Manages Kentucky Open Source Society
John Hicks IS qualified for the position of Governor, as he IS ONE OF US! He will bring us liberty and fight for OUR rights as Kentucky Citizens!
We need to show the entire Country what Kentucky can do when faced with such a dire situation – It’s not just about Cannabis – It is about Liberty and Justice for All!
Please make the right choice for our State, our Families, our Children, and our Country!
Do not condemn Our State once again!
God Bless You All
smkrider
11/3/2019
https://www.facebook.com/HicksForKentucky/
https://www.facebook.com/hicksforkygov/
https://www.facebook.com/jason.nemes.1/posts/3321913687848659
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3321910424515652&set=a.170767459629980&type=3&theater
https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislators/Pages/Legislator-Profile.aspx?DistrictNumber=33
The great race to become the World’s weed supplier
Submitted by Marijuana News on Fri, 10/11/2019
Companies vying to be the biggest cannabis producer in America or Canada are wasting their time and suffering from a crippling lack of vision. The real play is to make a bid to become the worldwide leader in global cannabis exports — like firms in Jamaica and Lesotho as well as Canada are attempting to do — and the window of time to get in is closing fast, according to one entrepreneur with clear-cut plans to curb that market.
Though recreational cannabis is now available in two countries, medical marijuana is legal in about 50 and not every country produces adequate supply to fulfill domestic demand. Over the long-term, the thinking goes, cannabis will become like any other agricultural commodity and production will shift to the locale where costs are lowest. But so far, the limited export game has been dominated by a few players, most of whom are either occupying a very limited lane or banking on the future.
An example of the former, Bedrocan in the Netherlands, produces cannabis solely for the government authority, which then exports most of it to Germany. Bophelo Bioscience and Wellness, a startup recently acquired by a Canadian-firm and based in tiny Lesotho, the first country in Africa to legalize cannabis, is an example of the latter. Somewhere else is a company like Fotmer Life Sciences in Uruguay, which is hoping to supplant both.
The world’s most popular illicit drug, cannabis boasts at least 263 million users worldwide, according to a New Frontier Data estimate, who in turn consume $340 billion worth annually, most of which is still on the underground market. At the moment, with so few legal companies producing cannabis and even fewer exporting, it’s a seller’s market. That state of play — flux, uncertainty, opportunity — will last only about another five years, said Jordan Lewis, an American entrepreneur who is Fotmer’s CEO.
Fotmer was in the news much last week as the company prepared its first shipment of export cannabis: 22 pounds, headed for medical cannabis patients in Australia. After that, Fotmer hopes to start competing with Bedrocan and begin shipping cannabis flower and oil to Germany, with up to 220 pounds or so per month headed out of the country to global customers, as he told Reuters.
Most of that will go to Europe, which “right now represents the single largest market in the next five years,” Lewis told Supplychainbrain.com.
The window for producers to charge high prices, before a reliable global supply floods the market, is now through 2024, he added, with high THC oils and plants to preserve their value longer than CBD products.
The modest first shipment is a tiny fraction of the company’s capacity. Fotmer currently has government approval to produce up to 10 tons of flower and 5 tons of oil, said Lewis — who added that he’s asking the Uruguayan government to allow him to grow 15 times that, in order to curb that global market. (He’s also shopping for a “large strategic partner” to provide the estimated $60 million of start-up capital needed to grow all that cannabis.)
If Lewis is right and producers in other companies join in, Fotmer may be well positioned to remain competitive, an outlook shared by other analysts. As New Frontier Data noted in a global market analysis released earlier this year, South America is considered a future hub for cannabis production thanks to an agreeable climate and low labor costs.
If countries decide that domestic suppliers are preferable and throw up tariffs, Lewis’s play could disappear. Or perhaps the best praxis is to play off of the incredible hype around the cannabis industry and get acquired. The point is that in a world obsessed with the next big thing, cannabis is very quickly approaching critical mass, and entrepreneurs are slowly catching on.
Authored By: Cannabis Now
Article category: Marijuana Business News
Amid regulatory uncertainty and global demand, China’s hemp industry is booming
Submitted by Marijuana News on Tue, 10/08/2019 – 10:38
China has a zero tolerance approach to marijuana (along with numerous other drugs), yet surprisingly it is the world’s largest producer of hemp, and also the world’s largest exporter of this increasingly lucrative plant.
While chances of medical marijuana being legalized in China are seemingly next to none, calls for a clear policy when it comes to industrial hemp and CBD products are increasing — as is the plant’s production in the country.
While cannabidiol (CBD) has become as widely proliferated as over-the-counter painkillers in the West, products using this hemp-derived compound have yet to be seen stocking store shelves in China. The plant it originates from, however, has had a far lengthier history. Ma (麻), the Chinese word for hemp, has actually been in use for thousands of years, widely enough that the classic text Book of Odes, or Shi Jing (诗经), contains many references to hemp use in the daily lives of Chinese people from the 11th to 7th century BCE.
The cultivation of hemp was made illegal in 1985, despite China having a long history with the crop. It was only in 2010, after a push by locals, that authorities again allowed it to be grown on an industrial scale in Yunnan province in southwest China.
Marijuana plants containing the psychoactive agent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are to date resoundingly illegal within China — despite what Randy from South Park might think — but plants containing quantities of CBD fall into a grayer area.
As it stands, companies are allowed to farm industrial hemp in Heilongjiang and Yunnan provinces (in China’s northeast and southwest respectively). China Daily reported early this year that talk of farmers being allowed to grow industrial hemp in Jilin province (next door to Heilongjiang), which had begun in 2017, had proven fruitful. Additional sources attest that hemp is also legally being grown in regions such as Anhui, Gansu, and Xinjiang.
Figures provided on Hanma Industrial Group Co. Ltd.’s website — one of China’s leading hemp producers — show that half a million hectares of land were used to grow hemp in Anhui province, close to Shanghai in eastern China, in 2014. Other provinces, excluding Heilongjiang and Yunnan, accounted for 0.4 million hectares. Curiously, many media outlets fail to report these facts.
This confusion as to the location of hemp farms in the country is perhaps related to the distinctions of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is a marijuana plant (cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa var. sativa) specifically bred to contain the least amount of THC possible, and has a wide range of applications. Industrial hemp is the most commonly farmed hemp strain, although China is home to hemp plants from 33 families and more than 90 genera, including ramie, flax, jute, kenaf, sisal hemp, and abaca.
With that being said, police have historically targeted marijuana plants grown outside of the industry complex. This year, for instance, authorities eradicated 10,000 wild plants growing alongside the Yongding river in Beijing’s Fengtai district.
The mood at the Industrial Cannabis Forum of Listed Companies in mid-August was pragmatic in the face of such continued confusion over regulations in the industry. Participants called for more clearly defined policies on the issues, while Yuan Hua, general manager of Kunming Pharmaceutical Group, said that China’s cannabis industry will need an additional two to three years’ time to establish itself. Her suggestion for companies in the meantime was “research and development,” in order to create new pharmaceuticals and products and lay the groundwork for the future of the industry.
With the recent rise in products containing CBD around the globe, Chinese hemp farmers and companies have begun to turn their attention to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and other products that use CBD in some form.
Tan Xin, chairman and founder of Hanma Investment Group Co. Ltd., tells us: “We did a lot of research in the early days and saw that investors like Peter Thiel and George Soros had put money into this industry. We believe this business has huge potential.”
As an example of the potential lucrative nature of this industry, consider that July to late September/early October is usually harvesting season for hemp plants in China. As more companies seek to gain a foothold in this fledgling market — and news of developments like the legalization of industrial hemp farming in Jilin province has spread — stock prices for firms such as Dezhan Health and Meiyingsen have soared this year not only during harvest time, but since the beginning of 2019, prompting international media outlets like The New York Times to sit up and take notice.
Yet in a move that perhaps put a damper on the industry, the Chinese National Anti-Drug Committee published a release in mid-March earlier this year re-clarifying the country’s stance on industrial hemp farming. The release plainly stated that CBD is not included on the list of narcotic drugs in the country, and that it is not a controlled drug. It also stated that marijuana with a THC content of 0.3% or less can be grown in certain parts of China. While this release certainly clarified parts of China’s stance on CBD, it was also vague in many areas and had a negative effect on multiple stocks on Chinese exchanges, prompting investors to sell off.
Nonetheless, people like Tan are optimistic about the future of CBD in the country, particularly in the beauty industry. “Nowadays, CBD is considered an ‘all-purpose ingredient’ [for beauty] in the Western world,” says Tan. “It not only has a therapeutic effect on skin diseases, but is also effective in terms of oil control, acne, and skin whitening.
While research and development for all types of products using CBD is technically legal, only beauty products with CBD are legal to sell in China.
“Since 2015, ‘hemp leaf extraction’ can be legally used in cosmetics,” says Tan. “And because the cosmetics industry is so huge in China, we have a good shot in this business.”
He adds however that pharmaceuticals and health products remain the company’s biggest priority at the moment.
All of this points to the crux of China’s argument for the widespread legalization of industrial hemp farming and CBD use in medicine: health.
Many tout the benefits of CBD in treating conditions like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s, as well as providing pain relief, though research on some of these claims is as of yet inconclusive. According to a report by Global Times, China holds 309 of the world’s 606 hemp-related patents, but due to legal restrictions, Chinese-made food and medicine containing CBD can only find a market outside of the country, in places like the US and the EU.
As Tan puts it, “the hemp industry is a health industry. Nothing will keep us from the pursuit of health.”
Authored By: Radii China
2020 Kentucky Hemp Program Application Period To Open Nov. 15
Sean Southard
sean.southard@ky.gov
(502) 782-9253
For Immediate Release
FRANKFORT (Sept. 27, 2019) – Kentucky hemp growers and processors may apply for a hemp license from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s (KDA) hemp program for 2020 beginning November 15, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles announced.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve our hemp program,” Commissioner Quarles said. “We are making significant changes to the application process for the 2020 growing season to make it work better for Kentucky’s growers and processors. 2019 will be a record-breaking year for Kentucky’s hemp program, and we expect continued growth in 2020.”
Among the major application changes in 2020:
- KDA will accept grower applications from November 15, 2019, to March 15, 2020.
- KDA will accept processor/handler applications beginning on November 15, 2019.
- The KDA will host an online application on its hemp webpage, kyagr.com/hemp.
- The new online application will include a mapping function.
“Kentucky continues to be the tip of the spear on restoring this crop, but I always remind folks that we are still in the infancy of the restoration. Challenges persist, ranging from federal uncertainty regarding cannabinol to banking and lending issues,” Commissioner Quarles said. “Any business venture – especially in a new industry – carries risk, and the hemp industry is no exception. It is important that our growers and processors remain clear-eyed about the opportunities and challenges ahead of us in the years to come.”
For those interested in learning more about Kentucky’s hemp program, KDA will host a Kentucky Hemp Summit for growers, processors, and other interested parties on December 4, 2019, at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.
The 2018 Farm Bill removed industrial hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act, gave hemp growers increased access to USDA programs, and outlined the minimum requirements a state regulatory framework must contain to earn approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The federal Risk Management Agency announced in August that certain hemp growers may obtain insurance coverage under the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Program in 2020.
For more information about KDA’s hemp research pilot program, go to kyagr.com/hemp .
