700 people filled a building in Springfield on Tuesday to hear more about hemp. The group consisting of farmers, processors, policy setters and those curious about growing a legal form of cannabis heard from industry experts how the first year of growing hemp in Illinois went.
Jeff Cox, the division chief of medicinal plants at the Illinois Department of Agriculture says 644 farmers were licensed to grow hemp last year and now they are waiting to hear about the hemp harvest.
State officials say that a needed boost to the state’s hemp industry will be to build a processing industry for hemp fiber and CBD oil.
