TYLER, Texas (KETK) – The hemp industry is exploding in the Lone Star State, with many East Texans saying they want to cash in on this growing business.
“Everybody is very excited,” Keith Harlan with Rose City Growers in Tyler says. “We had three people buy seeds and seedlings last year. One of them had a very successful venture. We are trying to build a coop, a group of people in Smith County and East Texas that is producing very high-quality CBD flower.”

The United States Department of Agriculture recently published the final federal rules for industrial hemp programs. This paves the way for Texas entrepreneurs looking to make some green in this field.

“Here in Texas, we’ve been in the hemp business for almost a year, and we’re busy building the Texas ‘hempire’ — we’ve issued over 1150 producer licenses, permitted over 5,000 acres of hemp in the ground and over 15 million square feet of hemp in greenhouses,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says.
Tonight on KETK News at 10, we take you on a tour of an East Texas hemp nursery and explain how you could profit from this industry. Get an inside look from the farm to the factory to the sales floor. Watch our special report, ‘Cash Crop,’ after a new episode of Dateline NBC.
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