Source: courier-journal.com
A truck drives past bales of dried hemp on the premises of company Hanffaser Uckermark eG in Prenzlau, eastern Germany on July 27, 2013. The company with its 13 employees produces insulating material and animal bedding out of hemp. / AFP/Getty Images
Canadian hemp processor Shaun Crew says his company, Hemp Oil Canada, is interested in opening a processing plant in Kentucky — but only if questions surrounding the legality of the plant are settled.
“If I’m going to invest money in this state and this industry here, I need to know that the DEA’s not going to come swooping in with Blackhawks and take out the farmer that we contracted with or take out the processing facility that we built,” Crew said.
Crew is also considering North Dakota for a new plant, but Kentucky would have advantages because of its central location and its prior history as a national leader in hemp production. The climate could allow two growing seasons a year, he noted.
“This isn’t going to be anything new to Kentucky,” said Crew, who recently visited the state and met with officials about a possible plant. “We’re reintroducing it, but we have to have level minds prevail here and common sense. We don’t need this wild card here right now.”
Last month, the debate over whether Kentucky farmers can begin growing hemp became even murkier when Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said the crop is still illegal and farmers who grow it could be prosecuted. Kentucky proponents of the crop, which is classified along with marijuana, say a recent U.S. Justice Department has opened the door to hemp growing by deciding not to prosecute federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized the drug.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who led the effort to pass a Kentucky law regulating hemp production if legal, has said he believes Kentucky farmers could have the plant in the ground as early as next year if next year’s legislature approves changes to the 2013 law.
Kentucky State Police officials argue the crop is still illegal, a position bolstered by Conway’s opinion, which said proponents still need a waiver from the federal government or a change in federal law to produce hemp.
Hemp leaves appear identical to marijuana, but hemp has only a tiny amount of THC, the intoxicating chemical in pot.
Brian Furnish, the chairman of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission, said he’s aware of at least one other out-of-state processor that has privately discussed building a processing plant in Kentucky for hemp and other crops. He said the company is not interested in going public yet. Furnish, of Cynthiana, said he’s been working on his farm and did not personally meet with Crew.
Crew said he’s been contacted by groups in several states across the United States seeking to attract his business “if and when” hemp is legalized in the United States. “Well, I’ve been hearing ‘if and when’ for 15 years. But in all truthfulness, it feels right now, with what’s been going on in Colorado and Washington state” to legalize marijuana.
Crew said a processing plant could be set up in a matter of months, likely using an existing building, next year.
A start-up facility would employ about 10 people, including administration, sales and production staff, Crew said. He said there would be a spinoff benefit in farming, seed cleaning and trucking.
He said he doesn’t have a specific Kentucky location in mind, but figures it would be in the Lexington or Louisville area.
“You want to put everything in proximity to the acres that are going to be grown and the seed cleaning where it’s going to be done,” he said.
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