David Garey walked through his Paris hemp field and rubbed the sticky resin from the rich green leaves onto his fingertips. He noted that the plants in his cannabidiol (CBD) crop were shorter and wider this year than they were in his inaugural hemp crop last year.
“We’re still learning … That’s about all you can say,” Garey said about the fine-tuning process his farm is undergoing with industrial hemp. “Growing it is not the problem. Farmers can figure out how to grow it relatively easy, but there is no market. The market has to be developed. There is no industry at this point.”
Developing an industry for hemp seems like a new thing for Kentucky. But it’s actually not new, only making a return.
Kentucky’s first hemp crop was planted and harvested in 1775. The Commonwealth soon led the nation in hemp production and hit a peak of 40,000 tons in 1850, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Almost all of the nation’s industrial hemp was grown in the Bluegrass region when nationwide production declined after the Civil War.
Hemp was lumped in with all cannabis and was outlawed in 1937, along with its high-inducing cousin, marijuana. Hemp has only traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the mind-altering ingredient of marijuana, but it looks a lot like marijuana and, therefore, it’s tough for law enforcement to distinguish between the two. During World War II, Kentucky hemp production was ramped up for the war effort to manufacture products like rope, parachutes and clothing.
After the war, the cultivation of hemp fell off again, and seeds were confiscated. Then, in 1971, the Controlled Substance Act labeled industrial hemp as a Class 1 narcotic, along with cocaine and heroin.
The U.S. Congress in 2013 included industrial hemp in the Farm Bill after years of lobbying by hemp advocates. It was signed into law in February 2014 by President Barack Obama. This provision allowed farmers to grow the highly versatile plant strictly for state-supervised research projects. Kentucky was poised to be a leader in these efforts. Hemp is legal to sell, and hemp products can be found on shelves all over the country. It’s a market that people from many sectors—including food, cosmetics, manufacturing, medicine and clothing—are jumping on. Products range from hemp hearts to nutraceutical CBD oil to hempseed oil. Hemp is used in auto manufacturing, animal bedding and numerous other applications. Chefs are even adding it to their menus.
Garey, who has farmed for 36 years—mostly tobacco and then vegetables—carefully contemplated cultivating industrial hemp. The crop can be difficult to grow. There is no guaranteed return on investment and only a small market. Among the other hurdles are a scarcity of harvesting equipment, extra fees and paperwork, no crop insurance and public stigma. But that didn’t stop Garey and his wife, Carla, and son John from diving in. They see the potential.
“I didn’t really know how to get involved in doing it, but we had this commercial kitchen on our farm, and a guy called about renting a commercial kitchen to do some things with hemp,” Garey recalled. “They were doing it for their kids. They needed the CBD because one of the kids had epilepsy and one had cerebral palsy, so we got interested in it because of the health benefits.”
Carla added, “When I walked in here and saw a child in the shape she was in and [that] what they were doing could help that child, that tore my heart out.”
The National Center for Biotechnology Information has published information from a study showing that CBD exhibited anti-anxiety and antidepressant effects in laboratory animals, a promising result that indicates a potential for treatment of anxiety and depression in humans. Additionally, an article in Scientific American revealed new evidence suggesting that CBD could be effective in reducing or preventing seizures in patients with epilepsy. The possible benefits of CBD continue to be researched.
“That’s not my child, but that is someone’s child,” said Carla, who noted that she is stressed about growing hemp because of the obstacles and financial investment without a promise of return. “If I can help one person feel better, that, to me, is 100 percent amazing. And it’s not a pharmaceutical. It’s not about money.”
According to the Gareys, CBD can be added to food, such as baked goods or condiments, or taken as a supplement or essential oil. As a food, hemp seeds and hempseed oil are high in protein and contain amino acids, as well as a balance of Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids—a rare trifecta.
The Gareys examine their hemp crop
For Annie Rouse, founder of Verified Life Cycle and Think Hempy Thoughts LLC, educating the public on the benefits of hemp is a priority. Rouse founded the Kentucky Hemp Research Foundation and was a Fulbright Scholar. She contends that CBD will be a major part of industrial hemp’s future.
Currently, most hemp products sold in America are imported, but Kentucky industrial hemp is poised to change that. It’s becoming more mainstream.
“The questions have changed a lot,” Rouse noted. “People didn’t know what it was. Now, people are more educated and ask how they can get into the program and spread the word.”
The state’s growers and processors must go through an application process with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and sign a memorandum of understanding.
“I’m so grateful for farmers who are assuming a lot of risk and not getting great returns,” Rouse said. “It’s a pain in the butt to grow, partly because the current varieties aren’t right for Kentucky. The seeds are imported from Canada, and we’re at a completely different latitude. Eventually, those seeds will become acclimated.”
Rouse feels that 10 years from now, hemp will be fully legalized. For that to happen, it would have to be removed from the Controlled Substance Act at the federal level.
“I think it’s great to see that there’s the collaboration still in Washington,” Rouse said. “Hemp truly is bipartisan. It’s rare that you see that in Congress, even at the state level. It’s really refreshing.”
At 92, Jacob Graves of Winchester lives on and oversees Leafland, the family farm that grew hemp before it was banned. The crop is there again, and he is encouraged by the level of support for a crop that he understands better than most.
“I get frustrated because it’s so obscene that most of my life there’s been nothing done with it because it’s all illegal,” he said.
He is hopeful that Kentucky can catch up.
“We’re in the process of learning, and we’re a little bit beyond the first few years of school,” Graves said. “We’re out of kindergarten.”
Graves gathered much of his experience with hemp from his family, which can trace its roots to growing hemp all the way back to 1800.
“I remember seeing fiber hemp crops—10 to 12 feet tall—thick as the hair on your back,” Graves trailed off, recalling the hemp fiber crops on his family’s farm. “It grows thick and sheds its leaves and covers the ground, which helps keep the moisture and feeds the critters in the soil … I remember Dad said that first crop he sold before the war effort [brought] the most money he ever got off the land per acre.”
When the family’s seeds were confiscated and used for the war effort, Graves said he remembered armed guards keeping the seeds under lock and key.
Graves also worked in the financial industry but said that he “liked the dirt better.” Learning to utilize dirt in the production of hemp so many generations removed from its heyday is a challenge, but farmers and researchers are making great strides.
“My experience in [the recent] hemp started 24 years ago,” Graves recalled. “We had Woody Harrelson right there in that dining room. He learned that an acre of hemp is equal to 15 acres of trees, to make fiber.”
Advocates like Harrelson flooded into Kentucky as hemp gained new attention in the late 1990s.
“I’ve been putting it on my face to get rid of bumps that are unsightly,” Graves said, caressing his face. He noted that hemp has been used to feed, clothe, shelter and medicate humanity for thousands of years.
To bring hemp back as a viable agricultural product, more work needs to be done from supply chain to marketing. This is where Rouse’s work—and that of others like her—becomes so important.
She feels that the future for hemp farmers primarily will be in CBD. It is the most profitable and the most needed component of hemp, she says. Rouse is a huge fan, partly because she believes daily CBD use has helped to alleviate her Lyme disease symptoms.
She doesn’t want to see CBD overtaken by pharmaceutical companies, but she said that having CBD as both a nutraceutical supplement and a pharmaceutical could allow more people to have access.
“Some people really see the CBD as preventative care—prevention from all sorts of issues that people have, like inflammatory issues,” Rouse said. “With our food system now the way it is, we have horrible inflammation. That’s also where hemp food comes in. It’s so healthy! It’s one of the best things you can put in your body.”
Rouse is busy connecting innovators and producers of hemp with the marketplace through her Think Hempy Thoughts brand.
“Initially, it was geared toward all hemp-derived products, but now I’m shifting the focus to CBD specifically, because there is so much unknown by the buyer,” she said. “They need that quality assurance. My other focus is moving forward the nonprofit called Friends of Hemp.”
Back in Paris, the Gareys say their products are selling.
“People get impatient about the process [of easing hemp back into the market],” John said. “But it’s good to take it slowly. Otherwise, people will dive in and lose a lot of money, and then it will go by the wayside real quick.”
Carla added, “I think it’s something that can be great for our farmers … something that could save a lot of our Kentucky farms if done in the correct way.”
The Gareys create value-added CBD products in the kitchen on their farm—things like jelly, honey and bread. Though they have not yet made back their investment, especially with the addition of a processor, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
“Financially, we’re doing better at it than what I ever anticipated at this point, this quickly,” David said. “All we’re doing pretty much is selling it at the farmers market. We’re selling more than what I ever dreamed of selling and have a following of people weekly.”
Carla noted that patiently educating consumers is key, and the family aims to increase production and get into retailers.
Chef Jeremy Ashby of Azur often cooks with hemp in his restaurants—Azur Restaurant & Patio and Brasabana Cuban Cuisine in Lexington—and in his own kitchen.
Ashby cited Victory Hemp Food’s move to becoming Kentucky Proud as “huge for the state. The groundwork and foundation is being laid, and we’ve been laying down some good recipe foundations.”
He often hears about the health aspects of hemp, and people ask questions about it.
“Just like any other ingredient, it does better in some applications than others,” he said. “Usually, I’m using the seeds for crusts. I’m finding ways to put the seed into anything I bake—like biscuits and gravy. There’s probably nothing worse for your body in the world than biscuits and gravy, but it’s good for the soul, so if I can add any kind of nutritional value, like sprinkling hemp in the dough, then we’re doing it.”
He puts hemp seed on top of baguettes and salads, in granola and pancakes, and when crusting meat.
“It’s so nonintrusive and healthy,” Ashby said. “It’s just like the chia seed. You can put it on anything, and you don’t even notice it, but it adds so much nutrition.”
To learn more about the comprehensive history of hemp, including the Graves family history with the crop, visit ataloholdings.com. Check out thinkhempythoughts.com for more information on Annie Rouse’s work.