AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is known as a big booster of hemp production in the state, cheering legalization of the crop in 2019 and even planting a few acres himself since then on land near Stephenville.
That’s why an assertion Miller is making has caught fellow advocates for the fledgling Texas hemp industry by surprise — he contends some growers are "probably" using hemp fields licensed by his office as fronts to cultivate marijuana, which is identical to hemp in appearance but illegal.
"It is highly probable," Miller said in a recent interview with the American-Statesman, although he acknowledged he has no proof.