Photo credit: Green Crown Extracts
The Wisconsin Hemp Alliance (WHA) formed in 2018 with a goal of promoting a flourishing industrial hemp industry in Wisconsin. The non-stock corporation strives to remove legal barriers at both state and federal levels to help the hemp industry thrive, and to serve as a platform for collaboration among hemp seed and clone suppliers, growers, processors, retailers and consumers. WHA focuses solely on non-psychoactive, industrial hemp and hemp products.
Larry Konopacki serves as general counsel for the Wisconsin Hemp Alliance, and he’s one of the organization’s founders. Konopacki is an attorney with Stafford Rosenbaum, and before that, he helped craft Wisconsin’s hemp laws with the Wisconsin Legislative Council. He’s quick to point out the value that’s been brought the industrial hemp industry by a group of bipartisan state legislators, particularly state senators Lena Taylor, Patrick Testin and Dale Kooyenga, and state Rep. Tony Kurtz.
Konopacki has both a personal and professional interest in seeing hemp succeed in Wisconsin. He grew up on a small dairy farm in southern Wisconsin and has a strong agricultural background. He also taught agricultural business law classes at UW-Madison. With the Wisconsin Legislative Council, he was appointed to work on hemp in one capacity or another, whether it was educating lawmakers who asked for information or working on legislation that introduced laws.
Konopacki left state employment knowing that his former office would be in good hands with attorneys Michael Queensland and Amber Otis, whom he says are picking up the industrial hemp work where he left off. In private practice, he represents clients on various issues, including hemp, and he devotes much of his spare time to WHA.
“If you pay attention to it long enough, it gets under your skin in a good way. You’re thinking about farmers and these opportunities,” he says of hemp, which serves as a sustainable source for textiles, plastics, composites and food. People are avidly seeking hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products for relief from anxiety and pain.
Through WHA, Konopacki has found a way to continue to help move hemp forward and further positive outcomes by collaborating with decision-makers; educating the public and industry participants; and through working with lawmakers, agency personnel, local officials and law enforcement. Their website, wishemp.org, has legislative updates; compliance information and deadlines for hemp growers; links to information from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, the state agency that licenses hemp growers and processors; links to articles and radio programs; and discussion forums for retailers, processors, growers and services.
With the resurgence of hemp, Konopacki notes the lack of institutional knowledge presents one of the biggest challenges for the industry at this time, so networking and camaraderie among all players in the industry is valuable. He’s eager to give a nod to the UW-Extension, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, the Wisconsin Hemp Farmers and Manufacturers Association, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau and the Wisconsin Farmers Union for their efforts to move Wisconsin’s hemp industry forward.
“All portions of the industry are in an infant stage, and everybody’s getting started. Obviously, that’s a very volatile time. There’s a great deal more stability in a mature industry; you can easily ask a question in an established commodity,” Konopacki says. “It’s also an interesting and challenging legal environment because of its close proximity to other tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cannabis.” Yet, he expressed optimism that that demand for hemp will create many opportunities for Wisconsinites in the near future.
