Connecticut farmers eager and worried about new hemp laws
WEST SIMSBURY Connecticut farmers are desperately eager to take advantage of new federal legislation legalizing potentially lucrative hemp crops, but theyre worried a delay in state action could give other U.S. farmers a big head start in the hemp game.
Can we get the state to move quick enough to plant this spring? asks Don Tuller, a West Simsbury farmer and president of the Connecticut Farm Bureau.
Other states are way ahead of us, Tuller said of the push to get in on hemp cultivation that could bring a farmer as much as $100,000 an acre.
The reason industrial hemp is so valuable is that it can produce CBD oil, a non-intoxicating substance potentially useful in treating everything from anxiety to acne. Hemp-related production and sales could be worth billions of dollars, according to experts.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2, said hes been lobbying Governor-elect Ned Lamont to make state action on hemp a top priority. He gets it, he really understands, Courtney said of Lamonts realization of how important hemp crops could be to hard-pressed Connecticut farmers.
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