The Wyoming Legislature passed House Bill 230 earlier this year which will allow Wyoming farmers to grow hemp, cannabis sativa L., a botanical cousin to marijuana, beginning in July 2018.
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TORRINGTON – The Wyoming Legislature passed House Bill 230 earlier this year which will allow Wyoming farmers to grow hemp, cannabis sativa L., a botanical cousin to marijuana, beginning in July 2018. Hemp is used worldwide in fuels, textiles, clothing and food, and while the United States is the largest importer of industrial hemp in the world, approximately $550 million per year, yet it has been illegal for American farmers to grow the versatile plant since 1937.
In 2014, the U.S. Congress passed a farm bill that allows states to grow hemp for research purposes in accordance with federal guidelines. The Agricultural Act of 2014 allows universities and state departments of agriculture to begin cultivating industrial hemp for limited purposes if the industrial hemp is grown or cultivated for purposes of research conducted under an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural or academic research and the growing or cultivating of industrial hemp is allowed under the laws of the state.
The Wyoming bill, which became law without Gov. Mead’s signature, will allow farmers to plant, grow and sell industrial hemp for experimentation and research, under the rules, regulations and supervision of the Wyoming Department of
Agriculture.
However, Wyoming’s agricultural producers haven’t been plowing up their cash crops for the chance to plant hemp. There are several hurdles that need to be crossed before it joins the ranks of corn, alfalfa, beans and sugar beets as one of the state’s
cash crops.
“It’s hard to say when we will be in a position to start hemp farming,” said Derek Grant, spokesman for WDA. “The last budget cycle wasn’t great. There is no money for the equipment needed to verify the THC levels of the hemp or for the training staff would need to be able to use
the equipment.
“But we are working on the things we can. We are currently writing the rules for the program so we can get them out for comment and we are working with the Drug Enforcement Agency to get our exemption for growing hemp.”