Hemp cultivation means returning to Kentucky roots

Farmers across the U.S. are giving newly legal hemp a shot, despite the risks. In Kentucky, which once had 40,000 tobacco farmers and now has fewer than 4,000, hemp is more than a potential lifeline: it means returning to local roots, April Simpson reports for Stateline.

"Kentucky was the country’s greatest producer of hemp in the 19th and 20th centuries," Simpron notes, and for good reason: the Brookings Institution says the state is one of the best places in the world to grow hemp.

Southeastern Kentucky farmer Michael Calebs figures that, as a longtime tobacco farmer, he's well-situated for success with hemp. "We’ve got the labor market here; we’ve got the land; we’ve got the infrastructure, so we have the upper hand," Calebs told Simpson. "I can produce it as cheap as anybody. I have the expertise."

But there are some concerns about hemp. "Experts and some farmers worry that without tighter regulations in place, farmers may overproduce a lucrative form of hemp and the market will crash," Simpson reports. That's familiar ground for tobacco farmers, who benefitted after forming a collective to control production.

UPDATE, Feb. 28: Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Wednesday that USDA probably won't have "definitive rules" for hemp until the 2020 planting season: "We'll proceed slowly and make sure we don't have another situation where productive farmers overcompensate and blow out the market before it can get started." In the absence of federal regulations, federal law and state rules apply.

Since limited hemp production has been legal in Kentucky since 2014, many farmers elsewhere will look to the Bluegrass state to see how well its highly regulated policies work. Prospective hemp farmers in Kentucky must apply for a license and submit to a background check. Those who are given a license must provide GPS coordinates of growing locations, which the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and law enforcement may inspect, Simpson reports.