SHELBY COUNTY, Ky. (WDRB) -- It may be the slow season, but Sen. Paul Hornback is staying busy, because as a farmer in Shelby County, he has to.
And he's not alone.
"All farmers are discouraged right now," he said. "I mean, commodity prices are at a 15-year low."
Between he and other family members, Hornback grows a variety of crops, fruits and vegetables, but this year's tobacco crop will be his last. Hornback said that while the demand for the crop hasn't changed, it's now hard to compete with overseas tobacco farms.
Luckily, however, there's something newer and more profitable on the horizon: industrial hemp.
"It got the reputation back before science and technology really understood the plants," Hornback said. "It grouped it in with marijuana. Even though if it's below .3 percent, it is industrial hemp. It has no hallucinogenic factors to it. You know, it's a very usable product. It's a product that's 100 percent usable."
While hemp is still still classified as a controlled substance, that distinction could change very soon. For Hornback and others, over the past few days, their eyes have been on Washington.
With Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a powerful ally, the senate passed a farm bill Tuesday that would legalize hemp. The House approved it Wednesday night.
"Estimates show that, once legalized, sales from hemp will soon surpass $1 billion," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during a speech Wednesday. "Along with providing certainty to agricultural communities, I am especially proud that the legislation will open a new door for farmers in Kentucky and around the country to explore the full potential of industrial hemp."
It's good news to Ray Waslo too, a hemp distributor in Louisville who believes the hemp oil he takes twice daily has kept him from becoming just another victim of the opioid epidemic.
"It's made me realize that I don't have to go to the doctor all the time, that I don't have to go down to the local pharmacy all the time," he said.
While more than 3,000 acres of hemp are already grown in Kentucky, experts believe that number could double or even triple soon.
The farm bill, which includes the hemp provision, now heads to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.
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