New and experienced industrial hemp producers and interested individuals can get a broad overview of hemp production and the Kentucky hemp industry at one of three regional meetings.

The meetings will be at the following University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service offices: Jan. 30 in Christian County, Jan. 31 in Clark County and Feb. 9 in Shelby County. They are a collaboration between the Kentucky Hemp Industries Association, Kentucky Hemp Research Foundation, UK Cooperative Extension Service and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. All the meetings will begin at 10 a.m. local time and end at 4 p.m.

“These meetings will give producers and processors good information about the hemp industry in Kentucky and will get them ready to grow and process hemp this year,” said Tom Keene, UK agronomy specialist.

“Our strategic objective is to position the commonwealth’s growers and processors to ultimately prevail as national leaders in industrial hemp production,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said. “These regional meetings will help us achieve that objective. We appreciate the opportunity to work with our partners to inform the participants in the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program.”

The KDA Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program has tripled its acreage for the upcoming growing season, bringing the total to 12,800 acres.

Topics on the agenda include hemp marketing, hemp agronomics, the KDA’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program and KDA policies. Presenters include Keene, Doris Hamilton, program manager of KDA’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program, and representatives from Kentucky’s hemp industries.

More information is available by online at https://hemp.ca.uky.edu/ or by contacting each host site. Those numbers are 270-886-6328 for Christian County, 859-744-4682 for Clark County and 502-633-4593 for Shelby County.