Source: kyforward.com
For nearly two years negotiations have been going on in some form or another over a new farm bill. The current bill actually expired last year with an extension passed to keep things rolling.
That in itself may not be unusual; most farm bills take more than one try to get passed. This one has been batted around a little more, perhaps, but appears to be on the brink of passage.
While the bill’s nutrition programs and dairy title have grabbed the headlines, there is an amendment tucked away in the House version of the bill that could mean hemp production will again be a reality in Kentucky, the state that once led the nation in growing industrial hemp.
Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced the amendment along with Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). Massie said in an earlier interview he feels confident the amendment will survive any farm bill negotiations between the U.S. House and Senate needed to pass the legislation.
“We’ve got Sen. (Mitch) McConnell in the Senate and he’s been very supportive of industrial hemp for Kentucky, so I’m optimistic and hopeful that the compromised version of the bill we end up voting on will contain the hemp amendment,” said Massie.
While many efforts have been made in the past to get similar legislation passed, this farm bill may be the best chance hemp has had in quite some time.
Joe Cain, Kentucky Farm Bureau’s director of national affairs and political education, has watched nearly every step of negotiations and said he hasn’t heard anything as to whether that amendment will stay.
“That’s not really been anything that’s been talked about in the details. They’ve talked a ton about the nutrition program and dairy, and they’ve talked a little bit about the planted verses base acres and a little about conservation program as well as about how Permanent Law would be handled,” he said. “There are several things that haven’t been publically talked about.”
But Kentucky’s Hemp Commission members have been talking about it. The last meeting of the group in 2013 proved to be a spirited debate of how to proceed, pending government approval.
Brian Furnish, commission chair said passage of an amendment in the Farm bill would be the clearest way to know that it would be law.
“The way I look at it, for the long-term future of a new crop, preferably, Congress would put it into the bill so there would be no questions or gray areas,” he said.
A statement from the Justice Department that said that states passing such legislation would be in charge of enforcing regulations did not clear up the subject of growing hemp, Furnish added.
“In my mind, it would just be better if Congress voted for something and have it in place,” he said.
Furnish noted that the amendment introduced by Massie passed the full House in a standalone vote, something that was very important.
“It’s very good for what we are trying to do and now it’s up to the Senate to come forward with a version or agree in conference committee with the amendment or change it around a little bit,” he said.
Furnish said he would like to see changes in the amendment, as well. Currently, it calls for universities and colleges to grow it and conduct research on the crop in states that have already passed legislation allowing it. Kentucky passed such legislation last year but only in the event the federal government allows it. (See KyForward story here.)
Furnish would like to see some farms with the ability to raise it in order for hemp industries to a good start in the state.
He also said that hemp needs to be taken off the Controlled Substances list because it is not marijuana and let the laws in Kentucky governor the issue.
While an economic impact study has been released from the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky and West Virginia Hemp Growers Cooperative Association, along with Patriot Bioenergy Corporation have released their own study by way of a whitepaper highlighting hemp’s potential in the region for energy use.
The paper noted that, “By blending coal with biomass materials such as hemp, sulfur emissions from power generation can be reduced and less valuable coal that is high in sulfur can remain competitive.”
One of the conclusions listed in the paper stated that, “There is now a solid body of evidence supporting the use of hemp as a feedstock for energy production as well as manufacturing.”
The white paper can be accessed by clicking here.
Tim Thornberry is a freelance writer and photographer who has covered Kentucky agricultural and rural issues for various publications since 1995.
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