State lawmakers questioned Ag Commissioner Ryan Quarles about hemp production and sales Tuesday, and expressed concerns that some hemp growers were unable to sell their crops, or weren’t being paid.
Quarles told members of the Senate’s Agriculture Committee he shared their concerns and would work to assist farmers, but said hemp farming carries risks.
“We urge every farmer to assess their own risk at the farm level,” Quarles said during Tuesday’s hearing.
Legislators talked about problems some hemp growers have faced during a discussion of a bill that would make some changes to Kentucky’s hemp laws. The bill passed the committee, and most of the time was devoted to discussing hemp production in general.
Hemp growing was allowed in the state by state law, and by the 2018 Farm Bill, which makes hemp a legally producible product. Hemp is believed to have a variety of uses, such as in textiles, in building materials, paper, livestock feed, and because it produces CBD oil, which is believed to have medicinal benefits.
Quarles said there are 200 startup hemp processors in Kentucky, “all of whom are trying to bring back a product that has been sleeping for 80 years.”
Ag committee chairman Sen. Paul Hornback, a Shelbyville Republican, said hemp “is a new industry” and said, “I think there are a lot of growing pains.”
Kentucky has more hemp growers and processors than any other state, Horback said.
“We led the nation,” Horback said, but also advises farmers getting into hemp production to exercise caution.
“Do not risk any more than you can afford to lose is what I’ve told people,” he said.
According to Quarles, 1,000 growers produced hemp last year, and he expects grower applications to match or exceed that number in 2020.
Quarles said there will also be more hemp processors in the state.
“There are producers who are still trying to market their 2019 crop,” Quarles said, adding that the Department of Agriculture is proposing those producers don’t have to apply for a new license to sell the remainder of their crop.
“There are people making money growing hemp, and there are people losing money growing hemp,” Quarles said.
Sen. David Givens, a Greensburg Republican and Senate president pro tempore, said Kentucky farmers are facing a number of hurdles, including a decline in the number of dairy farms, an aging farm population and a poultry industry that is controlled by corporations rather than farmers.
Hemp has also been difficult for farmers, Givens said.
“To your credit, you’re acknowledging … this is a risky venture,” Givens said. But farmers, Givens said, were assured they could plant small acreages of hemp, with the promise of large returns.
“These farmers needed to see an opportunity … and this sudden source of new heat popped on the horizon,” Givens said of hemp. But some farmers can’t pay for the materials they needed to grow hemp “because they can’t sell their hemp crop,” he said.
Givens asked Quarles to look at not licensing processors who have ties to businesses that haven’t paid their hemp producers.
“If you license a processor, you can say, ‘no, we are not going to license you,,’ ” Givens said.
Kentucky is the only state that licenses hemp processors. Some processors “have not fulfilled their obligation to farmers,” said Quarles, adding that a KDA top priority was to see that hemp farmers are paid.
But the agriculture department “is not the legal remedy” when hemp contracts aren’t honored, Quarles said. But the department would look at licensing as a way to manage hemp processors, Quarles said.
“We may need to use that license privilege,” Quarles said.
Sen. Matt Castlen, a Maceo Republican, said, “We have a lot of hemp growers in Daviess County, and a particular processor that didn’t hold up their end of their contracts.”
Castlen and other lawmakers asked about the allowable THC level in hemp, which is set at 0.3 %.
Castlen said he knew of farmers who planted what they thought were allowable strains of hemp, but “had to destroy their crops.”
Changing the allowable level of THC would take Congress, Quarles said.
Sen. Damon Thayer, a Georgetown Republican and the senate’s Majority Floor Leader, said legislators didn’t promise farmers a “panacea” when the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 50, which legalized hemp production.
“These farmers getting into the business are taking risk,” Thayer said. “… Like any entrepreneur, a lot of businesses don’t make it.”
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Written by James Mayse. Cross-posted from the
Messenger-Inquirer via the Kentucky Press News Service.