WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) welcomed today to his U.S. Capitol office students and faculty from Murray State University's Hutson School of Agriculture.

“I enjoyed meeting with students and faculty from Murray State University today to discuss their new Center for Agricultural Hemp,” Senator McConnell said. “MSU has been on the cutting edge of hemp research ever since I secured the pilot programs in the 2014 Farm Bill. Now that hemp is fully legal, these students and faculty are expanding the limits of hemp’s bright future through their impressive research.”

MSU provided the Senator with an update regarding the recent establishment of their new Center for Agricultural Hemp where they will expand upon the hemp research already taking place at the university. Senator McConnell secured the initiative in the 2014 Farm Bill that paved the way for state hemp pilot research programs, like the one at MSU, which gave Kentucky the opportunity to grow and research hemp and demonstrate its potential.   

In December 2018, Senator McConnell joined President Donald Trump at the White House as he signed the Farm Bill into law, which included the Senator’s Hemp Farming Act to legalize hemp by removing it from the list of controlled substances as well as to expand research opportunities for the crop by making it eligible for competitive federal grants. These competitive grant opportunities could help support hemp research at universities across Kentucky, like MSU.

As a champion of the 2014 hemp pilot program, author of the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, and a key negotiator on the 2018 Farm Bill conference committee, Senator McConnell was proud to ensure his hemp legalization provision was included in the enacted Farm Bill and to support efforts to bring hemp back to Kentucky.