The inaugural Heart of America Agricultural Hemp Classic takes place today in Independence, MO. Our MC is Joe Zahner, general counsel, Missouri Hemp Association. Joe is a scientist so he gets to help members on technical issues. We talked about the conference yesterday after the membership of the association met.
The program here includes farmers who have experience growing and processing hemp along with legal experts. There are a lot of questions and judging by the participation so far, there is a lot of interest in this “new” crop. Joe is also participating in a session on legal issues and another on hemp registration and permitting in Missouri. One thing he wants to encourage growers to do is “pump the brakes a little bit.” He says the Missouri Hemp Association doesn’t want growers to get hurt by growing too much or losing a crop so they have a program called the Hemp Subdivision Program. MHA will lease one acre plots to growers to learn about what it takes to grow the crop.
You can listen to my interview with Joe here: Interview with Joe Zahner, Counsel, Missouri Hemp Association