SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois farmers produced 2.3 million pounds (1 million kilograms) of industrial hemp in the first year of legal cultivation in decades, state officials said.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture began issuing hemp-production permits last spring after production was legalized. Of 651 licenses granted, 514 planted at least one acre.
Nearly three-quarters of the acreage planted was harvested.
