BY: TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector
Interest in industrial hemp among farmers weakened by regulatory, economic forces
TOPEKA — The Kansas House agriculture committee voted to perform a gut-and-go overhaul of a hemp regulation bill to narrow scope of the legislation to reductions in annual licensing fees for the plant’s producers and processors to invigorate interest in the alternative crop.
The measure adopted on a voice vote by the Republican-led committee would reduce the state licensing fee for hemp producers from $1,200 per year to no more than $500.
In terms of hemp processors, the new version of House Bill 2168 would cap the state’s licensing fee at $500. Currently, the fee has stood at $1,000 for businesses extracting cannabinoids and $500 for those not extracting that substance.
Rep. Ken Rahjes, the Agra Republican who chairs the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, said the adjustments had the potential to inspire interest in working with hemp as a field crop while sidestepping opposition in the Legislature to the original bill.
“As folks have discussed,” Rahjes said, “in order to get industrial hemp moving forward this was where most agreement was. This is one to try to move the industry forward. I see this as a building block.”
Dropped from the House bill introduced during the 2023 session was a plan to offer more convenient two-year license and registration periods rather than the current one-year approach. It would have permitted the secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture to adopt a less-intrusive inspection method for industrial hemp. The previous version would have exempted certain hemp processors from fingerprinting and background check requirements.
Finally, the abandoned bill would had invited dissension with a provision advancing the idea of using hemp fiber, grain and seeds to feed livestock, poultry or pets.
Kelly Rippel, co-founder and president of Kansans for Hemp and a member of the industrial hemp advisory board with the Kansas Department of Agriculture, said Kansas had about 200 hemp farmers in 2019, but the number had fallen to about 40.
Rippel said early interest was in growing floral varieties of hemp, while the future in Kansas agriculture was in fiber, grain and seed production. Other states had significantly lower fees than Kansas, he said, including some with no fees that treated farmers who grew hemp as they would farmers working with corn, soybeans or wheat.
“They wish there wasn’t so much red tape,” said Rippel, who said environmental conditions in Kansas were good for hemp. “Kansas is extremely favorable to hemp. It grows wild in every corner of the state.”
Rep. Brett Fairchild, R-St. John and a farmer, said adoption of lower fees could lead farmers to experiment with hemp as a crop.
“I talked to a lot of people in my area who said they would be interested in farming hemp, but the fees on it right now are so high it really is hardly possible for people to do it,” Fairchild said.
The Association of American Feed Control Officials, an independent organization that has been guiding state, federal and international feed regulators with ingredient definitions, label standards and laboratory protocols, recently granted tentative approval for incorporation of hemp seed meal into feed for laying hens.
Rep. Fred Gardner, a Garnett Republican and a veterinarian, said he would be concerned about introducing hemp meal to livestock and poultry because CBD concentrations could become excessive. He also said a common cause of poisoning among dogs was ingestion of CBD.
In addition, Gardner said hemp plant were vulnerable to invasion by toxic fungus that could be transferred to the nation’s milk supply. The plant was a known accumulator of heavy metals such as lead and mercury, he said.
“At what point do we need to be concerned about the safety of animals that are consuming this product?” he said.