Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Touts Pro-Hemp Message

Jan 04, 2013

Ag Commissioner Pushes Industrial Hemp Bill at Lexington Forum

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner, James Cormer has been a strong advocate for removing the restrictions on growing industrial hemp – and in the New Year he continues to tout his pro-hemp message at the Lexington Forum.

While many states have passes pro-hemp legislation, they are overridden by federal drug policy that classifies hemp under psychoactive drugs like Marijuana. Interestingly enough, in the 19th century Kentucky was the nation’s leading hemp producer.

Some of the main arguments in favor of the bill are that farmers would have to be licenced in order to grow industrial hemp and they would be subject to regular inspections by federal officials. If passed, hemp would be another crop that farmers could profit from and would ultimately spur manufacturing jobs for products using hemp.

Growing industrial hemp has a lot of appeal, as it is an annual crop that is easy to grow and relatively inexpensive. The input costs are low, as hemp requires very little fertilizer or insecticides and it grows best in marginal soils.

If the bill passes in the state legislature, more attempts will be made to try and get hemp reclassified at the federal level. Sen. Rand Paul has also been a staunch advocate for industrial hemp and has made several appearances with Comer in recent months. The U.S. is the only industrial country in the world that doesn’t allow industrial hemp to be grown.

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.