Current Volume: Volume 3 (2022)

Cannabis (Cannabis sativa) continues to establish across the US. Today, hemp (THC <0.3%) is legal, while marijuana (THV >0.3%) is still considered a Schedule 1 narcotic by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Markets are becoming more stable, despite having experienced volatility in recent years. Hemp acreage in the US totaled just over 54,000 acres in 2021, down from over 0.5 million acres in 2019. Markets are recovering as grain and fiber are projected to reach record sales in the coming years. Marijuana production, now legal in 39 states, is expanding, although acreage is not well documented. As a result of 80 years of prohibition, cannabis research is in the early stages. Today’s cannabis is vastly different from the fiber hemp of the past. Furthermore, production and pest management are both different from the time when hemp was legal.

In recent years, university and industry research has continued to expand. Now, eight years after reintroduction of hemp and over twenty years after the first states legalized marijuana, we are gaining better understandings of the crop and its challenges. Some of that research was shared at the third meeting of the Science of Hemp: Production and Pest Management held on November 3-4, 2022 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. Ninety-two agricultural scientists attended a series of scientific presentations. Topics included discipline-specific presentations in agronomy, entomology, horticulture, economics, and plant pathology, as well as general sessions. Attendees enjoyed a networking social at Pepper Campus, a revitalization project at the historic James E Pepper Bourbon Distillery. The evening included poster sessions and a hemp-themed dinner.

Organizers thank the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment for making this meeting possible. We also thank the countless volunteers from both the University of Kentucky and Auburn University for their tireless work and contributions that made this meeting a success.