The Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center (KTRDC) and the UK Department of Plant and Soil Sciences (PSS) are joint participants in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Industrial Hemp Pilot Research Program.  Agronomists Patrick Perry (KTRDC), David Williams and Tom Keene (PSS) are leading the research efforts investigating agronomic parameters affecting field-scale production of industrial hemp.  Experiments are aimed at optimizing yields of grain, fiber, and cannabinoids of interest (e.g., cannabidiol; CBD).    Click on the following article for an Introduction to Industrial Hemp and Hemp Agronomy.

The first hemp conference in the United States to bring together industry professionals, scientists and policymakers will be Sept. 8-11 at the Lexington Center and Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The 2017 Hemp Industries Association’s 24th Annual Hemp Conference is a partnership between the association, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.

Events scheduled for Friday, Sept. 8, are for Hemp Industry Association members only. Activities scheduled for Sept. 9-11 are open to the general public with conference registration.

At the conference, individuals interested in hemp industry, science and policy can attend concurrent tracks in each area and a two-day scientific poster session and trade show. Other notable activities include networking events and hybrid sessions with scientists, industry and policy professionals in managed, interactive roundtables.

The UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment will host an industrial hemp farming/processing tour on Saturday, Sept. 9, as part of the conference. The tour will begin with the UK agronomic science industrial hemp research field day at Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington. The field day starts at 10 a.m. with lunch provided at noon. From Spindletop, the tour will proceed to a local farm where producers participating in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program will do a field-scale harvest of hemp for grain. The tour ends with a visit to the Atalo Holdings Hemp Research Campus in Winchester. Participants will tour the company’s hemp processing facilities and have dinner.

Registration prices and deadlines vary and are available at https://thehia.org/event-2535421.

For more information, contact D. W. Williams, UK agronomist, at david.williams@uky.edu, or Catharene Garula with the Hemp Industries Association at catharene@thehia.org.

(Article written by Katie Pratt, UK CAFE Communications)

EVERYONE growing hemp in Kentucky must do so under the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's pilot program.  For more information on how to get started, follow this link: