FARM GROUP REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR HEMP

Delegates to the Kentucky Farm Bureau annual convention yesterday
reaffirmed the organization's support for developing industrial hemp. The
Nelson County Farm Bureau had asked the parent group to rescind its policy
supporting hemp growth, said state Farm Bureau spokesman Roger Nesbitt.

However, a motion to that effect failed yesterday on a voice vote, said
Andy Graves, a Farm Bureau member and president of the Kentucky Hemp
Growers Cooperative Association. Graves said one delegate called on the
Farm Bureau not to take a stand on the issue because it is controversial.
Other delegates, however, argued that hemp could provide a new crop for
farmers and that the Farm Bureau shouldn't shy away because of controversy.
Hemp advocates will push a bill in the 1998 General Assembly to legalize
industrial hemp in Kentucky. Industrial hemp differs from marijuana because
it has a negligible drug content.