Hemp Politics in the U.S. are sure to benefit from Kentucky’s high achievements in hemp research, cultivation and production.
The state’s research on hemp production has proven to be very successful, and the result is an increase in hemp fields and processing plants for 2017.
The Kentucky Agriculture Department said farmers are now permitted to cultivate up to three times more hemp than last year, as studies of the plant continue to prove its viability as a cash crop.
Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said farmers and processors are eager to invest in the hemp industry and want to see a revival of the long lost crop.
When hemp pilot programs first started in Kentucky in 2014, only 33 acres were planted, compared to 4,500 acres last year. This year, state agricultural officials are permitting an increase to 12,800 acres, a tremendous growth. The number of growers has increased from last years 137 to 209 applications this year.
Hemp is grown all across the state of Kentucky and the acreages vary in size from small plots to mass production of several hundred acres.
Kentucky has been the leading state in bringing the hemp industry back to the U.S., and Quarles hopes it will become the “epicentre” of the hemp industry.
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