South Carolina Increases Number of Hemp Cultivators
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]E[/dropcap]ver since hemp was legalized in South Carolina in 2018, farming has been on a major upswing. According to Fox 28, hemp farming in the state has increased by 565 percent.
The South Carolina Department of Agriculture reports that the state was home to 20 different hemp cultivators last year, and this year has already issued 113 permits. “If you can make it with a tree, or plastic,” said David Newsome of Palmetto Harmony hemp company in South Carolina “You can make it with hemp.”
Hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) derived from hemp have all kinds of benefits, so it’s no surprise that farmers are jumping at the chance to grow. Because farmers in the state needed a new cash crop, this is a win-win situation for everyone. “With the amount of farmers that are capable of farming in the large acreage coverage that we have,” Newsom added. “Plus, our ability to grow year-round because weather permits us to do so.”
Many of the farmers who are growing hemp in South Carolina were already growing other lucrative crops like soybeans or cotton. Adding in hemp with their other crops means that farmers are once again making a living at what they do. “We can literally be the leading state in this country for hemp,” Newsome said. According to him, starting late has an advantage for farmers in the state, as they can “see where other states were going wrong and see the things that were not working for farmers, and what kinds of things were holding farmers back and destroying crops.”
While South Carolina is certainly off to a slow start, it’s definitely a start. Religious groups have been asking that the state pass medical cannabis and many are voting to legalize, at least medically. While the state bay be far behind some others in the U.S., they are steadily catching up.
