Monday, August 18, 2014

Kentucky State Ag and Federal Government reach deal on Hemp seeds

The state of Kentucky and the Federal government have reached a deal that now make it to import Industrial Hemp seeds into this country.  The deal has allowed the state of Kentucky to end its lawsuit against them.

The deal is now legal and gives the farmers of Kentucky a genuine and legitimate process by which they can procure the seeds they want to farm.  This will make the logistical process much easier to approach and in the long term lower production cost.  It will also alleviate some of the insurance costs of the process.

As of right now, Kentucky is the only state to have this in place.  We hope it will spread to the entire country.

Unfortunately, in the deal the Kentucky Department of Agriculture gave the federal government the authority to control the cultivation and the marketing of the hemp.  I see this as a loss.  This could behave like a commerce clause kind of catch.  The federal government now has the authority to control the entire process from seed to final product.

I am glad but also apprehensive.  It would've been better if the lawsuit had gone all the way.

1 comment:

  1. thanks for the update Steve, but this is a disaster that the federal government can control the whole hemp industry. Looking on from Australia, such an anti-competitive, anti-free enterprise step will kill the hemp industry in Kentucky before it can get started. I urge every other State in the USA to reject any such arrangement.

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