Consumable hemp banned as industry grows in South Dakota

WINFRED, S.D. (South Dakota News Watch) – South Dakota, the No. 1 producer of hemp fiber in the nation, gets a major addition to its hemp processing industry later this year that will help expand the state’s capacity to grow and create products.

But it comes as federal legislation tied to the reopening of the government after a seven-week shutdown seeks to change how the plant can be used, which some industry members said poses an existential threat to its growth.

It’s representative of the growing two-sided hemp industry: one that produces goods like animal bedding, hemp wood and plastic, and another that creates consumable goods for humans and animals, some of which are intoxicating.

Hemp still attractive to South Dakota farmers

John Peterson, founder of Dakota Hemp, an industrial he