By Dr. Michael Diliberto
LSU AgCenter
The 2018 Farm Bill cleared the way for the commercial production of hemp within the United States and, in so doing, established hemp as a row crop alternative with the potential to be economically lucrative for U.S. producers.
Within the provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill, each state that was interested in the cultivation of hemp had to submit an industrial hemp production plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for preliminary approval before any hemp-related activities could begin. Louisiana’s state industrial plan for the production of hemp was approved by the USDA in December of 2019.