Just in time for this year's growing season, Connecticut farmers gained a potential new cash crop when the General Assembly approved and the governor signed an act authorizing a pilot program for growing hemp. Allowing hemp production makes good sense.

Hemp is a cousin of marijuana but primarily used industrially as a renewable source for making thousands of diverse products from its fibers, seeds, leaves and flowers. The plant contains much less of the psychoactive component THC than marijuana, but it does have some. That and the similar appearance of the two led to restrictions on growing hemp in the United States under a 1937 federal law regulating marijuana cultivation. 

The 2014 federal Farm Bill began the reversal of those limitations, and last year's Farm Bill expanded on that. States got the federal go-ahead to develop pilot programs for licensing hemp growers and developing their own rules for production and transportation — much of which is directed at ensuring that the crop is really hemp and only hemp, not its look-alike cousin.

Hemp is a fast-growing plant and thrives in the climate of the Northeast, making it a crop well-suited to Connecticut's small-scale agriculture and mid-length growing season. The legislature — with all members present voting in favor — passed the law in early May so the state could launch its pilot program before planting season in June. According to Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, the state Department of Agriculture had 172 applications for licenses by the beginning of this week. The first one granted went to a farmer in Ledyard, according to Osten.

Growers licensed by the state Department of Agriculture may use only certified seeds and must be able to verify that their plants meet the definition of hemp, including sampling by a laboratory at the farmer's expense. Transport of hemp under the pilot program is subject to rules and documentation directed by the state agriculture commissioner.

The restrictions and licensing fees should not pose an excessive burden to interested farmers. The Connecticut Farm Bureau's estimate for the return on once acre of hemp is 500 to 1,500 pounds of dried flowers worth anywhere from $37,500 to $150,000, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

The flowers are just the start. Farmers in the state — there are about 6,000 working farms in Connecticut — can now produce a whole-plant crop sought as raw material for the building, food, bioplastics, fuel and other industries. The growing popularity of the hemp compound cannabidiol, or CBD, for health and food uses, is a whole market in itself. Regulations not yet issued under the latest farm bill will ease the way for growers in any state that acts on the option to market hemp competitively with other countries , including China, where hemp is a major agricultural crop.

Besides the boost for farmers, the market for hemp could create eastern Connecticut jobs in processing and light manufacturing, as suggested by proposals floated this spring by local entrepreneurs. One proposal is to retool the closed Fusion Paperboard mill in Sprague, which Osten both represents as a senator and serves as first selectwoman.

There may still be unintended roadblocks as the states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture tackle such issues as equipping law enforcement to distinguish between legally transported and licensed hemp and illegal marijuana. A look at the bales or bags isn't enough. However, the 2014 Farm Bill officially defined industrial hemp as having no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight. Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration are seeking ways to field test the cargo for THC or other means of certifying that it is hemp, not pot.

Hemp is not, shall we say, a cure-all. But it is a product that matches up well with Connecticut's climate, scale, and history of small-business manufacturing, especially here in the eastern part of the state.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.