Frederica Freyberg:

Now to agriculture news. News that opens the door to a promising new industry for Wisconsin. After meeting with lawmakers and farm officials on Thursday, Attorney General Brad Schimel reversed his previous legal guidance that banned most cannabidiol or CBD oil in Wisconsin. Just as farmers were lining up to produce industrial hemp under a new pilot program in the state, Schimel issued a memo last month that said the oil could only be distributed in limited circumstances by doctors and pharmacies. The attorney general met with members of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau among others in reaching the new decision to allow farmers to grow and sell industrial hemp without fear of prosecution, including for processing the hemp into CBD oil. Rob Richard from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau is here. And thanks very much for being here.

Rob Richard:

Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is your reaction sitting here today to the attorney general’s reversal on this?

Rob Richard:

Im ecstatic. I’m ecstatic for our farmers. They’re going to have the opportunity to grow industrial hemp for the purposes they wanted to, which is to produce CBD oil or whatever use they wanted to, but in this particular case, the CBD oil component was key.

Frederica Freyberg:

What was your reaction when you saw his original kind of legal guidance that would have made this illegal?

Rob Richard:

Just the opposite. It was pure disbelief. But I realize we had a chance of hopefully work with the attorney general, explain our position as best we could and hopefully he would reverse it.

Frederica Freyberg:

How many farmers are lining up to produce hemp?

Rob Richard:

According to DATCP, I believe we’re at around 380 farmers that have sent in applications to either grow or process. So Wisconsin is literally blowing the doors off this thing compared to any other state in the country in the first year of their programs.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so farmers could both grow the hemp and process it into the CBD oil?

Rob Richard:

Yes, but some farmers are also just being contracted by others who will be doing the processing for them.

Frederica Freyberg:

And why is Wisconsin poised this way, you know, blowing the doors off other states?

Rob Richard:

We have a long and storied history with industrial hemp going back to the early 1910s and ’20s with Matt Rens, America’s hemp king in the Waupun area through World War II when we really became the national leader in industrial hemp. You had the Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Dodge County area. That was the mecca of hemp growing or hemp production in this country. About 70% of all hemp came out of that three county region.

Frederica Freyberg:

Could there still be some changes though that might be concerning for farmers and others in the industry coming from the 2018 Farm Bill, which is still before Congress?

Rob Richard:

Sure. So what we’re real excited about is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky has introduced the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 in conjunction with what Congressman Jamie Comer from Kentucky was already done last year with introducing his act as well. But what Mitch McConnell wants to do is remove industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and instead treat it like a crop, as it should be.

Frederica Freyberg:

And so what do you think the expectation is for that to happen, given the U.S. DOJ?

Rob Richard:

Sure. So, concerning that the senate majority leader wants this done and that his opposition party leader Chuck Schumer has signed onto his bill. This is great, fantastic news if the senator can get it attached to the Farm Bill and move it through the process and hopefully get it signed in the fall. But we really need Senator Tammy Baldwin and Senator Ron Johnson to sponsor this bill as well to really push it through the senate.

Frederica Freyberg:

What do you know about the likelihood of them doing that?

Rob Richard:

Weve had conversations with them. I think they’re thinking about it. We’re hopeful that they’re receptive and ultimately we would really love to have their name on that bill.

Frederica Freyberg:

What happens if that doesn’t happen?

Rob Richard:

Well, I think McConnell is committed enough to push this through any way he can. I know he’s working with a coalition of groups including the American Farm Bill Federation to get the support he needs to get this attached to the Farm Bill when it’s in the senate committee.

Frederica Freyberg:

Okay. In terms of hemp and the production of that, are there other products other than this oil that Wisconsin could take advantage of?

Rob Richard:

Absolutely. So if you go on the grain side and food and beverage, there’s plenty of opportunity for farmers who go for the grain to put in cereal bars or let’s say a major cereal company decides to include it as an ingredient in the cereal. That’s a game-changer in terms of the production that we could produce. Then you go into the high-tech industry with super capacitor batteries, replacement for Kevlar, the automotive industry using it for the interior components and panels. You have companies like BMW, Lotus and Mercedes using it as a replacement for fiberglass on the exterior of their car panels. In the building construction, we have individuals that I know that are looking to utilize hemp to make board. If we can get this going, get Fortune 500 companies behind this, I think there’s a real opportunity here.

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile when do farmers need to start planting?

Rob Richard:

Yesterday. In the southern part of the state, soil temperatures are reaching the level that we need to get seed in. Up north they have a little bit more time. But the timing of this whole issue was critical. That’s why we had to push as hard as we could.

Frederica Freyberg:

Rob Richard, thanks very much.

Rob Richard:

Thank you for having me.