The celebration that took place Tuesday at GenCanna in Winchester was fitting for a community that has quickly become one of the major players in an industry that will generate new growth and revenue for Kentucky’s agriculture community.

GenCanna officials staged a thunderous welcome for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell Tuesday as part of a celebration of the legalization of industrial hemp.

Kentucky was a center for hemp production until the middle of the 20th century, when it fell out of favor and hemp became illegal. Now, Kentucky and Clark County are staged to become that central hub for hemp production once again.

In the last couple years, hemp research has become a new industry in Kentucky, anticipating a day when hemp would be legalized again. Hemp is related to and looks similar to marijuana, but lacks the substance that produces the high.

In 2018, hemp was removed from the federal illegal substances list and placed under the authority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a move McConnell helped orchestrate.

President Donald Trump signed the farm bill, which included legalizing hemp, in December 2018.

The introduction of hemp to Kentucky farmers is another move away from tobacco.

In his first term, McConnell said at Tuesday’s event, 119 of Kentucky’s 120 counties grew tobacco. In 2019, 99 counties are growing hemp — including dozens of local farmers in Clark County.

Hemp is a versatile crop, which is one of the reasons it is so critical to expand industrial hemp production in our country and our state. While initially prized for making rope, hemp is being developed into a number of uses — for everything from food, medicine, skin care, clothing, plastics, paper, building materials and more. Because of the versatility, and now the legalization, farmers and communities will benefit.

The U.S. hemp market was $291 million last year, but it could grow by more than 450 percent to more than $6.5 billion by 2021, according to reporting from Marijuana Business Daily, citing research by the Brightfield Group.

And Kentucky is perfectly poised to become the hemp capital of the country.

In December, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles submitted the Kentucky State Hemp Plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making Kentucky officially the first state in the nation to apply for approval of a hemp program.

The legalization of hemp is huge news for Kentucky farmers who are looking for alternative cash crops after tobacco demands have declined in recent decades.

With multiple local farmers already participating in the state’s Hemp Pilot Program, GenCanna, Atalo Holdings, various hemp and CBD retailers popping up around the community and a plethora of proponents of the crop and its benefits, Clark County is also on the cusp of something huge.

We have already seen the benefits of hemp in our community — from more jobs, increased taxes from businesses like GenCanna, Atalo Holdings and others, income for local farmers and even the potential benefits of using the crop itself.

While hemp should have never been made illegal in our country, it is on the rise and we have Quarles and McConnell to thank for being at the helm of the push to legalize hemp in the U.S.

Kentucky should be proud for taking a progressive stance on this crop that will mean benefits of many kinds for our state.

We’re proud to have been able to celebrate that locally this week.