Michigan is gearing up for recreational marijuana sales and thousands of acres of hemp are now being legally harvested in the state for the first time.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development doesn’t know yet how many of those acres were actually planted, said Gina Allessandri, the state’s industrial hemp program director.
“We see an opportunity to truly scale the plant to produce CBD and the fibers from the hemp plant,” said Dave Crabill, vice president of IHemp Michigan, an association of farmers, processors and manufacturers across the state.
It was this week on Monday that the group met in the state capital about the introduction of hemp into the school’s agriculture industry.
It was last December that President Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill, legalizing hemp production. Michigan has since started a pilot program that registers and licenses 572 growers who have planned 32.614 acres, and 423 processors.
David Connor of Paw Paw Hemp said, “We’re making some great headway in Michigan. And in 2020, we think it’s going to be a huge year for Michigan.”
