Angie Rieck-Hinz's phone and email have been blowing up.

Dozens of Iowan farmers and entrepreneurs want to know when they can begin growing marijuana's cousin, industrial hemp, a new possibility under the 2018 Farm Bill.

"A couple of things have to happen before this can take off in Iowa," says Rieck-Hinz, an Iowa State University Extension agronomist in north central Iowa.

The farm bill's hemp provision opens up production of a plant that can be used for food and animal bedding, as well as to make cloth, high-protein feed, fuel and plastics that are biodegradable, said Christopher Disbro, the Iowa Hemp Association's board president.

"The real exciting part for Iowa farmers is that we can be the center of the next economic boom," Disbro said.

Read the full article on the Des Moines Register website.