Since the the 2014 Farm Bill established the legal framework for industrial hemp to return to the farm fields of the America, the commonwealth of Kentucky has been on the forefront.
For much of that time, Ag Commission Ryan Quarles has led the department in charge of the hemp program.
Quarles was elected ag commissioner in 2016 and is currently serving his second and final term.
He said Kentucky was an early leader on hemp, “because we were the hemp state historically.”
“A lot of farm families have hemp backgrounds,” he said. “You don’t have to look very far to see the fingerprints of what used to be a big cash crop.”
Quarles is a ninth-generation Kentuckian and grew up on the farm where his family grew hemp in the 1940s to support the wart effort.
Having a history of hemp cultivation was helpful, but there were still challenges in bringing the crop back, he said.
“I think the No. 1 issue with hemp in the early days was just the education of what hemp is and what hemp is not,” he said. “And so for a lot of us in the agriculture sphere, we knew that it was an industrial crop primarily used for its fiber and grain production.”
Something else that set Kentucky apart was how the state program was structured. “We knew if we're going to bring this crop back from the dead, we needed to have a legal framework that was user friendly, that involved law enforcement, but also allowed people who want to grow it or process it an opportunity to take that risk,” he said.
That legal framework set an example for other states to follow.
“We've been replicated to most across the country because I think we were really the first state, in my opinion, that really got a legal framework that passed through our General Assembly, that our agriculture community adopted,” Quarles said.
As the industry navigates the post-CBD craze market, Quarles would like to see some definitive language from the Food and Drug Administration.
“The No. 1 impediment of hemp in America is the FDA. The FDA needs to do their job and give us guidelines on what their view is on the potential regulatory aspects of CBD and other cannabinoids,” he said.
He said interest in fiber and grain production is growing in Kentucky, and he referred to two companies that are making great strides: HempWood and EcoFiber.
How does he feel about a possible exemption to lift the burdensome regulations from fiber and grain growers?
Listen and find out.
Kentucky's Hemp Program https://www.kyagr.com/marketing/hemp-pilot.html
Hemp Policy Item Tabled Amid Concerns at Meeting of U.S. Ag Regulators https://cannabiswire.com/2022/09/29/hemp-policy-item-tabled-amid-concerns-at-meeting-of-u-s-ag-regulators/
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