Industrial Hemp has been a long standing tradition in Kentucky.  In the 19^th and 20^th century Kentucky was the world leader in hemp production.  Then in the 1970’s the war on drugs outlawed the sale and production of cannabis sativa and made it a schedule 1 substance.  In 2014 a bill was passed that allowed Kentucky to start growing and researching hemp development and production to offset a slowing tobacco industry.  In 2014 there were 20 approved growers and 33 acres planted.  Just to show how the industry has grown, in 2018 that number has jumped to 210 approved growers and 6,700 acres planted.  Although the hemp industry has seen incredible growth, it is important to realize that our processors and farmers are both learning as they go- we don’t have any standard procedures for growing this crop yet. Hemp production looks a lot different today than we thought it would a year ago or even a few months.  Things are very fluid right now, conferences like the West Ky Hemp Conference are very important to our producers to help them better understand what our processors are looking for, find timely research on hemp and share ideas with other growers who are facing the same challenges they are.  

The West Kentucky Hemp Conference was established as a partnership between Kentucky State University and the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension facilities of Caldwell, Christian, and Trigg counties.  The West Kentucky Hemp Conference was held Friday June 14^th 2019 at the Trigg County recreational complex.  The morning was packed with speakers which came from four states to talk about topics from Economics and production to Contracts and loan approval processes.   After lunch attendees were able to tour a local processing facility and hemp production farm.  At the end of the day 123 attendees were able to say that they gained knowledge in hemp and hemp production.   The processors that offered tours the afternoon of the conference were also very pleased with the attendance and questions from potential and current producers.