Hemp in Kentucky

The production of hemp in the U.S. state of Kentucky has a history dating to pioneer times, was criminalized in the 20th century, and has recently resumed as a legal industry.

History

19th century Kentucky hemp field
Soldiers in a Kentucky warehouse guarding seed for the 1943 hemp crop

Early cultivation

In the 18th century, John Filson wrote in Kentucke and the Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone (an appendix of his 1784 work The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke) of the quality of Kentucky's land and climate for hemp production.[1] The first hemp crop in Kentucky was raised near Danville in 1775.[2][3]

Kentucky was the greatest producer of U.S. hemp in the 19th and 20th century, with thousands of acres of hemp in production.[4][lower-alpha 1] Senator Henry Clay was a "hemp pioneer" and the "strongest advocate" of Kentucky hemp. He grew it on his Kentucky estate Ashland and brought new seeds to the state from Asia.[6][7][8] Clay's oratory on the senate floor in 1810 in favor of requiring the Navy to use domestic hemp exclusively for ship's rigging was widely reprinted in newspapers and is credited for beginning the elaboration of the American System.[9] Production reached a peak in 1917 at 18,000 acres, mostly grown in the Bluegrass region, then waned due to market forces after World War I as other sources of fiber were introduced.[10][11] A Federal program to reintroduce hemp for wartime needs in Kentucky and other states during World War II reached 52,000 acres in Kentucky in 1943. The WWII effort is documented in the USDA film Hemp for Victory .[12]:1

Decline and criminalization

Production of hemp had seen a decline after World War I. The decline was due to market forces including the rise of tobacco as the cash crop of choice in Kentucky and foreign sources of hemp fiber and finished products.[13] The availability of cheap synthetic fiber after World War II even further discouraged farmers from growing it.[14]

Federal policies, tightened by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, virtually banned the production of industrial hemp during the War on Drugs. According to an industry group, "the 1970 Act abolished the taxation approach [of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act] and effectively made all Cannabis cultivation illegal".[15] The Drug Enforcement Administration refused to issue permits for legal hemp cultivation[lower-alpha 2] and held that, since industrial hemp is from the same species plant as prohibited cannabis (despite its being of lower THC yield), both were prohibited under the Controlled Substances Act.[14][17] In the words of a 2015 PBS NewsHour segment on hemp, "To the federal government, hemp is just as illegal as marijuana",[18] and according to Newsweek, "all cannabis sativa—whether grown to ease chronic pain, get stoned or make rope—is a schedule I controlled substance".[7]

Partial relegalization

By the late 20th century, consumer demand for hemp products was resurgent but American farmers were left as bystanders. Imported agricultural products were allowed from other countries, including Canada, but growing hemp legally was not possible in the United States.[lower-alpha 3] In 1994, Kentucky was one of the first states to consider reintroducing hemp cultivation, with a commission convened by governor Brereton Jones to investigate legal pathways to do so.[19] In 2013, Kentucky passed a state law, Senate Bill 50, allowing production for agricultural research purposes. Although the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, which would have allowed hemp production, failed,[12]:2 agricultural hemp was allowed by federal law under the Agricultural Act of 2014 (farm bill).[7][20][21][22] The provision allowing research was added by Kentucky's senior U.S. Senator, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.[18] Production was 33 acres in 2014, 922 acres in 2015, 2,350 in 2016, and agriculture experts expect an increase to c. 9,400 acres in 2017.[23][24] As of 2016 harvest season, only two U.S. states other than Kentucky had over 100 acres (40 ha) in hemp production: Colorado and Tennessee, with smaller projects under way in six other states including Indiana, Nebraska, New York, and Virginia.[25][26][27][28][29]

The research project is being conducted under the auspices of the University of Kentucky. Research at Spindletop Research Farm is seeking improved agronomy and includes research on optimizing cannabinoid yield.[30][31] The first research crops at Spindletop and Murray State University were planted in May, 2014, with seed obtained from California and, after a legal battle with the Drug Enforcement Administration, imported from Italy.[32][33] The researchers are also engineering new mechanical harvesters that can reach the 10–12-foot (3.0–3.7 m) high flowers of tall-growing hemp.[34]

Legal status

Under federal law, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) present in both cannabis and hemp remains a schedule I controlled substance.[16]

Under state law, all hemp grown in compliance with the 2014 farm bill must have a THC content below 0.3%.[35] Farmers participating in the program must use seeds provided by an educational institutional with a DEA license and use varieties expected to be low in THC. A sample of each farmer's hemp crop is tested by the state.[36][23]

Production

Testing of a $400,000 oil extraction facility in Winchester began in March, 2016, with full production capacity of 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) per hour expected by the end of the year.[37] GenCanna and Atalo Holdings are hopeful of turning their property at Winchester into a "Hemp Research Campus".[7]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "From the end of the Civil War until 1912, virtually all hemp in the US was produced in Kentucky."[5]
  2. ↑ A legal scholar wrote in 1999, "By law, industrial hemp is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance because of its distant relationship to the much higher THC-containing plant, marijuana. Anyone wishing to grow, cultivate, or manufacture a Schedule I controlled substance must obtain licensing permission from the D.E.A. ... [I]ndustrial hemp cannot be legally grown in the United States because the D.E.A. refuses to grant farmers and entrepreneurs the required permit, Number 225, which would allow the licensee to "manufacture" a "controlled substance." The D.E.A. has never granted these permits."[16]
  3. ↑ According to Purdue researchers in 2002, "In the US, a substantial trade in hemp products has developed, based on imports of hemp fiber, grain, and oil. The American agricultural community has observed this, and has had success at the state level in persuading legislators of the advisability of experimental hemp cultivation as a means of evaluating the wisdom of re-establishing American hemp production."[5]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Hopkins 2015, p. 13.
  2. ↑ History of hemp in Kentucky, Kentucky Department of Agriculture, 2016, retrieved 2016-11-21
  3. ↑ "Courthouse lawn, US 127, Danville", Kentucky Historical Marker Database, Kentucky Historical Society, Marker 1279, retrieved 2016-11-21, Kentucky's first recorded hemp crop, 1775, was on Clark's Run Creek, near Danville. Grown by Archibald McNeill, who brought the first seed with him when he located here.
  4. ↑ Hopkins 2015, p. 215 "For well over a century, the state was the heart and center of the American hemp industry. Most of the fiber produced in this country grew in Kentucky, and most of the manufactories of domestic hemp were concentrated there."
  5. 1 2 Small & Marcus 2002.
  6. ↑ History-making hemp harvest at Henry Clay Estate, WKYT-TV, August 30, 2016
  7. 1 2 3 4 Jessica Firger (October 23, 2015), "The Great Kentucky Hemp Experiment", Newsweek
  8. ↑ April 8th, 1837: Henry Clay Experiments With New Type of Hemp Seed, Hoping to Introduce it in America, The Raab Collection, archived from the original on 2016-11-21
  9. ↑ Heidler & Heidler 2010.
  10. ↑ Hopkins 2015, p. 208.
  11. ↑ Dewey, Lyster H.; Merrill, Jason L. (October 14, 1916), Hemp hurds as paper-making material, U.S. Department of Agriculture, p. 5, USDA Bulletin 404 – via Internet Archive
  12. 1 2 Economic Considerations for Growing Industrial Hemp: Implications for Kentucky's Farmers and Agricultural Economy (PDF), Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, July 2013
  13. ↑ Hopkins 2015, pp. 193–208.
  14. 1 2 Farmers sue DEA for right to grow industrial hemp, CNN, October 18, 2007
  15. ↑ David P. West, Ph.D. (February 27, 1998), Hemp and Marijuana: Myths & Realities, North American Industrial Hemp Council
  16. 1 2 Shepherd 1999.
  17. ↑ Catherine V. Moore (July 20, 2016), "Can Industrial Hemp Save Kentucky's Small Farms?", Yes!
  18. 1 2 "Kentucky farmers quitting tobacco, turning to unlikely new crop", PBS Newshour, October 17, 2015
  19. ↑ Ballanco 1995.
  20. ↑ "Hemp bill (Senate Bill 50) passes", Lane Report, Lexington, Kentucky, March 27, 2013
  21. ↑ Robin Roenker (January 2016), "Industrial hemp returns to Kentucky", Kentucky Living
  22. ↑ Gregory A. Hall (February 17, 2014), "Kentucky announces 5 hemp pilot projects", The Courier-Journal – via USA Today
  23. 1 2 Charles Mason (October 14, 2016), "State expects hemp program to grow", Bowling Green Daily News
  24. ↑ Austin Ramsey (February 14, 2016), "Farmers eye hemp pilot program" (PDF), Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer – via Paducah Sun
  25. ↑ Hemp’s future hazy as U.S. crop, Associated Press, August 23, 2016 – via Toledo Blade
  26. ↑ Nicholas Bergin (November 3, 2016), "UNL launches hemp research", Journal-Star, Lincoln, Nebraska
  27. ↑ Mary Esch (October 3, 2016), American hemp farms take root under state pilot programs, Associated Press – via The Cannabist
  28. ↑ Joseph Paul (August 8, 2015), "A field day at Purdue University's first hemp farm", Indianapolis Star
  29. ↑ John Reid (November 21, 2016), "Milestone: Hemp crop harvested in Virginia for 1st time in decades", Richmond Times-Dispatch – via The Cannabist
  30. ↑ Katie Pratt (May 13, 2015), "UK plants hemp research plots", UK AgNews, University of Kentucky
  31. ↑ "Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program" (official website). Kentucky Department of Agriculture. 2016. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  32. ↑ Paresh Dave (May 27, 2014), "After DEA approves hemp seed import, Kentucky plants a landmark crop", The Los Angeles Times
  33. ↑ Missy Baxter (June 5, 2014), "Is DEA Dazed & Confused Over Industrial Hemp? The Department of Agriculture needs hemp seeds for critical research. Why is the DEA trying to stop them?", Rolling Stone
  34. ↑ Brad Haire (March 15, 2016), "New hemp harvester can reach medicinally valued top flower", Southeast Farm Press
  35. ↑ State industrial hemp statues, National Conference of State Legislatures, August 19, 2016
  36. ↑ Cheryl Kaiser and Christy Cassady (September 2015), Industrial hemp–legal issues (PDF), University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
  37. ↑ Janet Patton (June 15, 2016), "California firm to process hemp at Winchester research center", Herald-Leader, Lexington

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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