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Perdue addresses upcoming challenges to hemp industry

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says there are challenges ahead to help develop America’s industrial hemp industry.

Perdue recently met with lawmakers and ag leaders in Kentucky to discuss their concerns.

“I think what I heard was a lot of opportunity, but a lot of challenges and needing a federal framework to help guide the progress of this crop.”

He says creating a crop insurance program for hemp producers is difficult because the production capacity is unknown for the new crop.

“What we will have for 2020 is called a whole revenue farm policy. That is typically done on specialty crops or crops where you can’t insure a crop itself but have a whole farm revenue policy there.”

Perdue says other challenges include a lack of standardized regulations across the country, transportation, financial transactions and misconceptions of hemp in relation to cannabis.