LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky farmers, processors, universities and other parties interested in conducting an industrial hemp pilot project have until Nov. 5 to apply for the 2016 growing season.

Allowed by the 2014 farm bill, industrial hemp pilot programs are now available where permitted by state law. "The industrial hemp pilot projects have yielded valuable information the past two years," said Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer.

"We look forward to another successful round of projects and encourage applicants to submit proposals to research hemp production, processing, manufacturing and marketing. This work will help establish Kentucky as the epicenter of America’s industrial hemp industry once the remaining legal barriers to hemp production are removed."

In 2014, the first year of industrial hemp pilot projects, plantings totaled just over 30 acres. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) approved 121 industrial hemp pilot projects submitted by 24 processors, seven universities and numerous individual growers – totaling more than 1,700 acres of intended plantings for 2015.

More than 922 acres were actually planted.

"In the future, I think we’re going to go from 1,700 acres to 10,000 acres to 20,000 acres, to 40,000 acres," said Comer, in a recent address at the Hemp Industries Assoc. conference in Lexington. "This is going to be a big crop in the state of Kentucky."

At the height of hemp production in 1850, this was the nation’s leader with a peak of 40,000 tons. U.S. hemp production saw a major decline after the Civil War, and for several decades almost all of the nation’s hemp was grown in the Bluegrass State; however, federal legislation passed in 1938 outlawed production of all cannabis, including hemp.

Despite a rise in production during World War II as part of the war effort, the industry was all but gone in the late 1950s. Recent years have seen a renewed interest in hemp as a cash crop, in part due to the decline of tobacco demand.

Growers for next season will be selected from Dec. 1-Jan. 8. For more information, contact the KDA’s Industrial Hemp Program at 502-573-0282 or hemp@ky.gov

Applications can be downloaded online from www.kyagr.com/hemp