A Glasgow City Council member is one of three people hoping to unseat incumbent Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles in November.

Joe Trigg, a Glasgow councilman who ran unsuccessfully for the 23rd District state House seat in 2016, said he’s interested in putting his farm skills toward helping other farmers.

Trigg said he’s most interested in using hemp production as an economic opportunity for small farms.

Trigg said the tobacco allotment system that used to assign farmers the amounts of tobacco they could sell could be partly resurrected to give farmers a chance to earn more money and diversify their production as hemp cultivation spreads throughout the state.

“It would potentially generate enough income to match the income that came in under the tobacco system,” he said.

The state is in the midst of a “low-key” hemp production revival, Trigg said.

A provision in the 2014 Farm Bill allows states to cultivate hemp if it is done for research purposes in conjunction with either “an institution of higher education or a state department of agriculture.”

According to The Associated Press, Kentucky’s Department of Agriculture approved 1,035 applications to produce industrial hemp in 2019.

In an opinion column he wrote in November, Trigg said he wants to see a system that allows farmers to grow hemp while setting limits on the amount they can grow.

“Kentucky small farmers need this lifeline,” he said. “And let there be no doubt that inactivity on our behalf will result in another lost opportunity.”

In the opinion piece, Trigg expressed concerns that, under the state’s current system, “large corporate entities (could move) into Kentucky to take advantage of these new agricultural opportunities and leave us small farmers on the side.”

Trigg said he was initially interested in running for governor but was convinced by Kentucky Democratic Party officials that agriculture reform was a big enough part of his platform that seeking the office of agriculture commissioner made more sense.

With four Democrats and four Republicans running for governor, “I looked at it and said, ‘Maybe I need to look at something else,’ ” he said.

According to joetrigg.com, Trigg has worked in “all phases of tobacco production” and has experience with raising black angus cattle.

“Agriculture was one of the main areas and they thought because I was a veteran and a farmer, they were wondering if I was interested in running for agriculture commissioner,” he said.

In the Democratic primary, Trigg will face Robert Haley Conway.

If Trigg defeats Conway in May, he’ll then compete with the winner of the Republican primary, who will either be Quarles or Bill Polyniak.