We Shouldn't Be Burning Hemp and Burning Money — This How We Fix It

Why Kentucky Farmers Are Burning Millions — And How We Fix It

There’s something deeply wrong happening in American agriculture right now—and most people don’t even know it. Farmers across Kentucky and the country are being forced to destroy entire hemp harvests, not because they broke the law in any meaningful sense, but because their crops tested a fraction of a percent too high in THC. We’re talking about fields worth tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars—gone. Burned. Disked under. Lost.

Since the passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, hemp has been federally defined as cannabis containing no more than 0.3% THC. That number sounds precise, scientific—even safe. But in practice, it’s anything but. Hemp is a living crop, not a manufactured product. Research from the United States Department of Agriculture and universities shows that lab testing alone can vary from 0.2% to 0.4% on the same sample, meaning a legally compliant crop can fail purely due to testing variability.

That’s not theory—that’s reality in the field.

And the stakes are enormous. According to USDA data, the U.S. hemp industry reached $445 million in production value in 2024, spanning fiber, grain, and CBD markets. This is not a fringe crop—it’s a growing industrial sector. But farmers are being asked to operate in it with near-zero margin for error.

Even under controlled state programs, failure rates are real. In a recent state report, about 6% of tested hemp lots exceeded the 0.3% THC limit, triggering mandatory destruction or remediation. Most of those “failures” weren’t extreme—they fell between 0.40% and 0.69% THC, barely over the legal line.

This isn’t just inefficient—it’s economically reckless.

We are forcing farmers to gamble their livelihoods on a biological process they cannot fully control. Weather shifts. Heat stress. Genetics. Timing delays. All of it can push THC levels up slightly. And when it does, the government doesn’t adjust—it punishes.

Let’s be clear: this isn’t about getting people high. Industrial hemp is used for textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction materials, and food products. By definition, it contains extremely low THC—far below anything intoxicating. The problem is that current law treats a raw crop in a field the same way it treats a finished product on a shelf.

That’s the flaw. And that’s what we fix.

Hemp farmer looking for pests and sickness

At the federal level, I am proposing the Hemp Agricultural Stability Act, which creates a simple, science-based distinction:

- Hemp crops in the field can contain up to 1.0% THC without being treated as illegal drugs

- Finished consumer products must still meet the strict 0.3% THC limit

At the state level, I am introducing the Kentucky Hemp Stability & Farmer Protection Act, which ensures that:

- Farmers are not criminalized for crops testing up to 0.8% THC

- Crops in that range are redirected to industrial uses instead of being destroyed

- No farmer loses their livelihood over natural plant variation

Because right now, we are asking farmers to invest in a $445 million industry… while accepting the risk that a 0.1% fluctuation could wipe them out completely. Those are bets only people okay with burning money can do right now.

That’s not a policy—that’s a gamble.

And it’s a gamble too many Kentucky farmers have already lost.

I’m running for Congress because I believe we can do better than this. I believe we can write laws that reflect reality, not outdated assumptions. And I believe we can build policies that work—not just for one party, but for the people who keep this country running.

Because no farmer in America should have to burn their success to comply with a broken system.