Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says hemp farming in the Panhandle could bring relief from the billion and a half dollar hit to the region鈥檚 timber industry. She joined WFSU鈥檚 special Perspectives program this week, broadcast from Mexico Beach, on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Michael that left millions of acres damaged.
Fried says hemp鈥檚 short growth cycle can help it inject money into the area while timber, with a cycle that can be as long as twenty years, catches up.
鈥淲hile we are encouraging everybody to reforest 鈥� because that is the industry, that is the livelihood of this community, that鈥檚 where the jobs were, so we are encouraging everybody to reforest 鈥� but in the meanwhile, giving them alternatives like hemp are going to be essential to rebuilding,鈥� Fried said Thursday.
Timber farmers in the region have yet to see meaningful federal aid. Fried says she and other state officials have presented a grant program that would help timber farmers, to the United Stated Department of Agriculture. She says she hopes to hear back in a matter of weeks.
In May, state cannabis director Holly Bell told a Tallahassee audience North Florida would be an attractive place for perspective hemp farmers to grow.
鈥淚 do believe it鈥檚 probably because you鈥檙e going to have a better grow soil up here initially, for the CBD-type hemp, because you鈥檝e grown tobacco up here,鈥� Bell said.
Bell says hemp growing permits look to be on a track to be issued in January of 2020.
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