Indiana has tried for decades to eradicate a cousin of the marijuana plant.
But that long-time attempt has now come at a cost, as industrial hemp has the potential to become a new cash crop for farmers.
The Hoosier state's reluctance to reconsider its attitude toward ditch weed also has it losing out on revenue and jobs to Kentucky and other states that have been quicker to give farmers permission to grow the crop.
Just ask Gregg Baumbaugh, CEO of an Elkhart manufacturer that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on shipping expenses to import hemp and other natural fibers grown in Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia.
With Indiana still on the sidelines of the emerging U.S. industry, FlexForm Technologies could strike a deal to buy hemp from a newly launched Kentucky supplier. Such a move could sharply reduce shipping costs.
“I’d love for Indiana to process this stuff, but Kentucky isn’t that far away from us,” said Baumbaugh, whose company uses hemp and other fibers to make a lightweight material that looks like a floor mat. Suppliers for auto manufacturers — such as Ford, Mercedes and General Motors — buy sheets of the material, heating it up to be molded into door panels, trunk liners and other interior vehicle parts.
People won’t get high by smoking the so-called ditch weed because it has only a trace amount of the same psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana. But some lawmakers, among other concerns, have questioned whether hemp fields will make it harder to find real marijuana because it can sometimes be difficult to tell the two apart.