Missouri legislators have been one-upped again as another state has legalized hemp cultivation.
Nineteen states have done what Missouri legislators have failed to do for the last three years running; allow Missouri to start an industrial hemp pilot program. Florida will now move ahead of Missouri in cultivating hemp.
Florida’s Governor Rick Scott signed an Industrial Hemp Pilot Project bill into law on June 16, 2017. The hemp bill passed the Florida House with a majority support of 108 YEAS to 6 NAYS and then passed the Florida Senate unopposed with 32 YEAS to 0 NAYS.
Missouri’s Senate killed the only hope Missouri farmers and university researchers had to join the nationwide scientific “green rush” of hemp research and cultivation by not advancing Paul Curtman’s HB 170 hemp bill in the 2017 session. Missouri’s next chance will be the 2018 legislative session.
The 2014 Federal Farm Act signed into law by the Obama administration gave Missouri the green light to permit Missouri universities and their research partners, under the oversight of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, to cultivate hemp for research and determine future uses as a commercial agricultural commodity product. 