U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Wednesday that he has secured several important provisions to benefit Kentucky’s growing hemp industry in the Fiscal Year 2020 government-funding agreement.
Officials in Washington D.C. say, Senator McConnell, a senior member of the Appropriations and Agriculture Committee, secured nearly $20 million to implement the hemp provisions. The House of Representatives has already approved the measure and the Senate is expected to vote on it this week. Once approved, Senator McConnell’s hemp provisions will go to President Donald Trump for his signature.
McConnell included the following provisions supporting the commonwealth’s hemp industry in the bill:
– $16.5 million for the USDA to implement McConnell’s hemp provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill
– $2 million for the research of hemp through Agriculture Research Service sites — like those in Lexington and Bowling Green
– A measure encouraging the Food and Drug Administration to issue formal enforcement discretion guidance for CBD products
– A provision directing the Farm Credit Administration to offer services to hemp producers and businesses
– A prohibition on the federal government from banning the transfer, production or sale of hemp in accordance with the 2014 Farm Bill
– Support for competitive USD grants for hemp product
– A measure to support the Drug Enforcement Agency’s efforts to deploy technology to enable law enforcement to distinguish between hemp and marijuana in the field.
Officials indicate agriculture leaders from around the country are looking to Kentucky’s prospering hemp industry, and Kentucky farmers are benefiting from hemp’s resurgence. So far, officials say 102 of the state’s 120 counties are growing the crop with 200 processors operating statewide. Earlier this year, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles announced that about $100 million worth of Kentucky-grown and processed products are expected to be sold this year alone.
