Hemp And The Challenges Of Farming’s Frontier

There’s millions of dollars to be made from growing hemp, which for years was lumped in and vilified with its sister plant, marijuana. With the government loosening laws around growing hemp for the first time in more than 80 years, some states are charging ahead and letting farmers plant it — even before federal regulations are in place.

Those states aren’t just getting a head start, though. They’re seeing significant challenges that hemp farmers will face for years to come, things like seed fraud, weather and a lack of machinery.

“I've done pretty much everything to really immerse myself in (hemp) because I started getting questions like crazy,” Phillip Alberti, a commercial agriculture educator with the University of Illinois Extension.