“This is the harvest season for a lot of farmers,” said Jim Douglas of Mid Tennessee’s Hemp Collective.



Douglas heads manages several of the collective’s farms, like four acres of land in Beech Grove.



He also operates his own hemp food production facility.



“After we dry and harvest, we bring it to our food production facility,” said Douglas. “We then take this CBD oil and put it into our food products.”



Douglas is part of a budding industrial hemp industry in the Volunteer State.



The number of grower licenses issued by the state more than tripled in the last year with 79 in 2017 and 266 so far in 2018.



Douglas said the draw of growing hemp in Tennessee begins with direct access to the state’s Department of Agriculture.



“Without feeling threatened by the overall. That in itself is huge,” said Douglas. “And on top of that, Tennessee is tobacco land in some parts and the market down here. People love cannabis.”



But acceptance hasn’t always been the case.



“It’s just a sign that Nashville is still developing,” said Douglas. “It’s good to see that it’s changing on the small town level.”



A changing attitude on full display at Music City’s first-ever hemp expo.



“It’s a good sign of development,” said Douglas. “Coming back around to other forms of cannabis and how open we are.”