Mindy Ward
RULES TO GROW: Missouri farmers can raise hemp this growing season with the same stipulations from 2020. The Missouri Department of Agriculture reports 800 acres were planted this year. Ag Matters: Hemp growers will work under the current rules through 2021.
As I’ve written before, I’ve always loved the policymaking responsibility of serving as Missouri’s director of agriculture. As lawmakers write laws as a skeleton framework, it’s usually up to state agencies to fill them in with regulations that further decide how a program will run.
Over the past several years, we’ve done just that with our Industrial Hemp Program in Missouri. Although hemp has been a moving target between federal and state statutes, it has been a welcome diversification option for some of our farmers.