MacIver News Service | March 26, 2019
By M.D. Kittle
MADISON, Wis. — Could industrial hemp become Wisconsin’s next “huge cash crop”? State Sen. Patrick Testin believes so.
The Stevens Point Republican led legislation that created the state’s hemp pilot program — a new industry that has seen significant growth in a very short time.
Last year, the first year of production, 200 growers and more than 100 processors applied to the state to grow hemp. This year, grower applications have topped 1,400, with 700 for processors.
“So obviously, it is clear that Wisconsin farmers and growers are ready to lead this nation again in industrial hemp,” Testin told MacIver News Service.
But will Badger State growers one day soon plant industrial hemp’s psychoactive “weed” cousin next to the innocuous, multi-purpose cash crop?
Senator Testin talks hemp, very high budget numbers and March (not reefer) Madness in this edition of MacIver NewsMakers.