Industrial Hemp Takes Root in East Tennessee

In Cover Stories, News, Photos by Clay Dudaleave a COMMENT


As incredible as it may seem, hemp is now legal in Tennessee—at least for industrial farming and use in manufactured goods, with plenty of restrictions attached. Nearly 50 farmers across the state have signed up for a tightly regulated Tennessee Department of Agriculture pilot program to try a hand at growing the state’s inaugural crop. Can these early pioneers give rise to a new industry in Tennessee, or will their struggles be for naught as the cannabis plant continues its tango with the federal government and the realities of farming economics set in?

RELATED: East Tennessee’s Hemp Pioneers Attempt to Grow a New (and Newly Legal) Cash Crop

Former Mercury staff reporter Clay Duda has covered gangs in New York, housing busts in Atlanta, and wildfires in Northern California. And lots of stuff about Knoxville.

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