Hemp Lending: An Industry That’s Growing Like a Weed

With passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, the U.S. government declassified hemp as a Schedule I controlled substance. This has allowed states to pursue their own laws for the crop. As of this writing, hemp production is now legal in 48 states. It remains illegal in Idaho and Mississippi, while South Dakota only recently legalized it in March 2020. With the Farm Bill’s passage, farmers planted 128,320 acres of hemp in 2019, up from only 27,424 in 2018. As 511,442 acres were licensed in 2019, hemp…