Source: bizjournals.com
Pat Caudill, left, is pictured with Kentucky Agriculture
Commissioner James Comer and Dan Caudill. The Caudill
brothers are co-owners of Caudill Seed Co.
Louisville-based Caudill Seed Co. is quickly becoming the poster child for the legalization of hemp production in Kentucky.
The company has been featured in a CBS News report, on WDRB-TV in Louisville and in several newspaper articles, with owners Dan Caudill and Pat Caudill explaining what they think a legal hemp crop would mean for Kentucky and their company.
The two became interested in the issue when they met James Comer, now Kentucky’s Secretary of Agriculture, during his 2011 campaign for the office. Legalizing hemp to give Kentucky farmers a new revenue stream is one of Comer’s priorities.
Because it has so many hills, Kentucky has a lot of land that's only marginal for agriculture, Dan Caudill said in an interview. Hemp is an ideal crop for the state because it can grow nearly anywhere, just like tobacco.
Aside from farmers, the rest of the state would benefit if it could create hemp-processing facilities that would provide jobs, Caudill said. Hemp seeds can be processed into oil, and its tough fibers can be woven into fabrics to make clothes or entwined to make rope.
Every year, Caudill Seed imports from Brazil about 75 tractor/trailer loads of twine made from sisal that it distributes to farm retailers for bailing hay. The Caudill brothers would like to distribute rope made locally instead.
Chances of passage better than 50-50
The company expects to benefit from legalized hemp production in two ways, Dan Caudill said. It would be able to buy seed and sell it to farmers who want to grow hemp. And, it would process seed grown by Kentucky farmers and sell it to crushing companies that would extract the oil.
Senate Bill 50, which would legalize hemp production in Kentucky if federal laws allow it, is scheduled for a hearing in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee of the Kentucky General Assembly at 11 a.m. Monday. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a R-Ky., and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, are scheduled to testify in favor of the bill.
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer has said he opposes proposals to grow hemp in Kentucky because it’s too hard to distinguish between hemp and marijuana. The two plants are of the same species, but hemp has very little THC, which is the compound that gives marijuana users a high.
Dan Caudill feels that in spite of the opposition to the bill, the chances are better than 50-50 that the General Assembly will pass it this year.
“Most of the political people recognize the need for further diversification and the need to bring some jobs to the state,” he said.
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