Hall mentioned in Boston Globe article on Appalachia's future beyond coal
Out-of-work Kentuckians are increasingly turning to farming “out of necessity,” said Martin Richards, who runs Kentucky’s Community Farm Alliance. His group works with eight farmers’ markets in eastern Kentucky, including one Howard helped found with another seventh-generation Kentuckian, Nathan Hall; Richards says twice as many farmers participate as did five years ago.
In 2014, Congress allowed certain states, including Kentucky, to begin farming industrial hemp after a ban of 60 years. Hall, 33, a Yale MBA student who also studies environmental management (and briefly worked as a miner), was already exploring the idea of growing hemp, first cultivated in Kentucky in 1775.
Today, with grants from companies like Patagonia, the clothing manufacturer, he and Howard are growing hemp on six sites in four counties — including 5 acres of reclaimed surface mine — and have big dreams to scale up.
