Jefferson City, MO—The first legal industrial hemp plot was planted in Missouri on July 1,according to a press releasefrom the Missouri Hemp Association (MHA). A week earlier, Missouri lieutenant governor Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 133 into law, allowing universities in Missouri to plant hemp for research.

Dale Ludwig, executive director of the MHA, said in the release: “Hemp is the biggest opportunity in the last 200 years to make Missouri farmers more profitable. The opportunity for universities to put seed in the ground this year will help our growers be more prepared for the 2020 growing season.”

Any grower interested in planting hemp in 2020 should attend the Missouri Hemp Conference 2019: Seed to Sale, the press release says. It’s the first statewide conference on hemp and will feature speakers from all over the U.S., as well as speakers from Canada and Europe.

The MHA thanked Rep. Don Rone, chairman of the Missouri House of Representatives Agriculture Policy Committee, and Rep. Rick Francis, who sponsored the hemp bill.