LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The idea of industrial hemp growing once again in Kentucky is gaining momentum as more state legislators, agriculture officials and legislators at the federal level are lending their support to the proposal.

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer is leading the latest charge, having made an announcement at this year’s state fair. He was joined by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, along with Kentucky junior Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul.

Attempts to pass legislation have been made often, most recently in last year’s General Assembly session by state Rep. Richard Henderson (D-Mt. Sterling), who said at the time Kentucky had once led the nation in the production of industrial hemp and there is no reason it can’t do so again.

Indeed, the state did produce hemp to make rope during World War II, but the industry dates back much further. In an article written by John Dvorak, a hemp historian, he noted, “Kentucky first planted hemp near Danville in 1775 … and that the hemp industry rapidly expanded and Kentucky became the industry center for the next 100 years.”

Comer said it’s time for industrial hemp to return, for a variety of reasons. “I think it offers farmers a great alternative to a lot of crops, not just tobacco, but forage crops in particular, because you would harvest industrial hemp much like you harvest forages either through baling it or cutting it for silage,” he said.

“It is something that I would consider the output to be sustainable, so it has the support of a lot of environmental people on the left, in addition to a lot of people on the right, Tea Party groups and Liberty groups.”

In addition to its bipartisan support, Comer is excited about the prospects of once again growing industrial hemp because it flourishes in Kentucky and farmers could make more money per acre than about any crop he has seen with the exception of tobacco or vegetables.

“It’s easy to grow. It doesn’t require any nitrogen fertilizer. Right now, it’s resistant to where you don’t have to spray insecticides or pesticides, so that makes it a ‘green’ crop and it’s a crop that has a lot of uses that I think would create a lot of manufacturing jobs in Kentucky, especially in rural Kentucky,” he said.

In other countries where hemp is legally grown, it is used to make everything from clothing to paper, to alternative energy supplements. Paul reflected on that and said in a television interview just before the press conference, “It would be a great new product for Kentucky. Anything we could do to help farmers have a new product, it would be good.

“We’d be one of the first states to legalize industrial hemp. Most other countries have legalized industrial hemp.”

He added other countries are making textiles, paper and biofuel out of hemp. But the United States is one of the only industrial countries not doing it.

Paul is a co-sponsor of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, which was introduced in the U.S. Senate in August. His father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), introduced similar legislation in the House last year with the support of 33 cosponsors.

The debate has been around for years. In fact, the University of Kentucky conducted a study sponsored by the Kentucky Hemp Museum and Library in 1998 to provide “a scientific study conducted by an established university (which) has carefully and deliberately weighed the evidence on the economics and ecology of industrial hemp.”

It compared 14 common Kentucky crops and found hemp could be the third most profitable in the state. It also noted: “Kentucky should be in a position to benefit from the establishment of an industrial hemp cultivation and processing industry in the United States.”

Some of the main opposition to the development of hemp as a crop comes from law enforcement. Hemp is a cousin to marijuana, with the main difference being it contains very low levels of THC – the ingredient in marijuana that produces its “high.”

“It looks similar to marijuana and that’s why we don’t grow it in the U.S., but it’s not a drug,” Comer said. “I think we are at the point now where we can differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana. Let’s be a leader for once in something, and be the first state to grow industrial hemp. It would be a great benefit to the farmers in rural communities, from an economic development standpoint.”

Even if Kentucky passes legislation, the federal government must do the same in order for planting to be legal. Comer thinks it’s just a matter of time before that happens.