Home » Ag commissioner to travel to D.C. this week to make case for industrial hemp

Ag commissioner to travel to D.C. this week to make case for industrial hemp

Will urge federal government to allow industrial hemp production in Ky.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 6, 2013) — Agriculture Commissioner James Comer this week will meet with White House officials, representatives of federal agencies, members of Congress and others on a three-day swing to Washington, D.C. Comer will lead a bipartisan delegation to urge the federal government to allow industrial hemp production in Kentucky.

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer plans to ask the federal government to allow industrial hemp production in Kentucky.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer plans to ask the federal government to allow industrial hemp production in Kentucky.

“My colleagues and I will make the case that industrial hemp has the potential to create revenue and jobs,” Comer said. “Thanks to the efforts of the General Assembly, we also can say that Kentucky is ready to set up a regulatory framework that will enable us to not only revive our hemp industry but do it in the right way.”

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer was No. 4 on the list of Most Influential People in Agriculture.
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer

Comer will be joined by state Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, and former state Treasurer Jonathan Miller. Comer and Miller are scheduled to meet with representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and hold a series of meetings with members of Congress, including Kentucky Reps. John Yarmuth, D-Kentucky, and Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky.

Hornback is scheduled to join Comer and Miller for meetings with representatives of the White House, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, Republican U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnelland Rand Paul, and Republican U.S. Reps. Ed Whitfield, Andy Barr and Brett Guthrie.

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Members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation have signed a letter asking the federal Drug Enforcement Administration for clarification of regulations regarding industrial hemp.

Hornback sponsored and Comer supported state legislation that creates an administrative framework, to be managed by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, for industrial hemp production in Kentucky. The legislation calls for hemp demonstration projects by the University of Kentucky and other public universities that choose to participate. Under the bill, the Kentucky State Police are required to conduct background checks on applicants for licenses to grow industrial hemp.

The bill passed in the final hour of this year’s Kentucky legislative session in March.