CLINTON COUNTY, Ky. — The hemp industry has grown, as more farmers are licensed to grow the crop and cannabidiol (CBD) products that use the plant become more popular. However, not all farmers find success in the industry in Kentucky. Farmers like Bobby Huff are thousands of dollars in the hole as their crop from last year sits in storage without a buyer.

Bobby Huff has been farming for about 20 years and has also been a pharmacist for eight years. His new clinic just opened in Albany a week ago.

"The farming economy right now is just really tight, so anytime you have a chance to [diversify], it adds another layer of income," Huff explains.

The Huff family is happy to have multiple ways to make a living after their latest venture into the hemp industry didn't turn out as hoped. Huff's eight acres of hemp crop is still sitting in storage, waiting for a buyer, since he claims the company Bluegrass Bioextracts isn't honoring the contract he has with them to buy the harvest.

Huff is frustrated with the company, and that more farmers are getting into the industry in which he's afraid the demand for hemp doesn't support.

“Everybody was touting it as kind of the next biggest thing, next best thing relative to like tobacco," Huff says of hemp farming, "it’s kind of like a yellow road paved with gold...when really it’s just bricks. There’s nothing there.”

He is out about $75,000. Huff says he has friends in the same situation and has heard of people who lost even more. That's why he'd like to see the Department of Agriculture do something to keep a check on hemp processors like CBD companies who allegedly break a contract or are not reputable.

The Department of Agriculture, however, says there's nothing they can do to penalize the company. Spokesman Sean Southard says the department is aware of issues with Bluegrass Bioextracts.

“We want our farmers to get paid first and foremost, in all of these disputes. But it’s important to realize that this is a startup industry, and there’s a lot of activity going on and a lot of risks," says Southard.

While Huff hopes the department will put a limit to the number of farmers getting permits to grow, Southard says they will not be. They will allow farmers like Huff who still have a harvest waiting for a buyer to be licensed to store the crop, and pay only the cost for a background check to do so.

Huff wants to caution people about hemp farming, by telling his story.

“It’s kind of a little bit demoralizing, I would say more than anything. And it makes me feel a little foolish," he says.

Spectrum News 1 has reached out to Bluegrass Bioextracts, who reportedly has changed owners. However, calls and emails were not returned at the time of the article being published.