For several years, hemp has been labeled the new, up-and-coming crop that farmers in western Kentucky would thrive on. The 2018 Farm Bill made it legal for farmers to grow large amounts of hemp, and for the first time, many farmers in the Local 6 region hopped on board to grow it. "We had 60 acres all around the house here," says Shaun Hayden. Hayden is a third-generation farmer in Carlisle County. He usually grows row crops and a little tobacco, but this year he signed on with hemp company GenCanna and gave hemp a try. "It's kind of like a roller coaster ride in that it's fun, but it's very scary," says Hayden. One of the biggest uncertainties of growing hemp for Hayden was not being able to have crop insurance for it. "We had a major wind event through the north here throughout the summer, and it blew some of the hemp over. And I think that actually lost us some pounds overall, but we didn't have any crop insurance to help subsidize that," says Hayden. Hayden's hemp crop turned out pretty well overall. He cut it out of the field, and took it to GenCanna for processing. "I guess that's the ultimate question, is 'Would you do it again?' and I'd say 'Yes,'" says Hayden. A lot of other people grew hemp too. In fact, it's estimated more than 230,000 acres have been planted in the United States this year. "The interest of growing a different crop has been a lot of talk around the county and around west Kentucky this whole growing season," says Jed Clark. Clark grew around 15 acres of hemp in Graves County. Unlike Hayden, he didn't sign with a hemp company, but instead grew it independently. At this point, Clark believes it's too early to know how the hemp industry will be long term. "I don't see it as a saving crop, but I see it as helping family farms in diversifying their operations, and any time you can do that is a good thing," says Clark. Clark doesn't just grow hemp. He processes it, too. Once they get it out of the field, they have to cut the limbs off the plants, pull the buds off by hand and put them in boxes to get ready for market. "It has turned out to be a lot more time consuming than we had first planned for it to be," says Clark. And the price of hemp isn't what it was once thought to be. "The projections that we had heard back in the spring and when we were going through contract signing have been lower than what we were told then," says Clark. That's because more hemp was produced than the market needs. Despite that, Clark still believes hemp could be a good option in the future. "What I'm seeing now, it can still be a profitable crop for our farming operation here," says Clark. Hayden has faith the hemp industry will work itself out over time. "With a new industry, there's a lot of growing pains and a lot of ups and downs, and that's to be expected. And I'm an eternal optimist," says Hayden. It's a crop with a lot of promise and uncertainty. Source - https://www.wpsdlocal6.com