Janel Ralph has an urgent motive for wanting to grow hemp. She said she started growing hemp on her Conway farm because her daughter has a rare genetic disorder. It causes hundreds of seizures a day. “We started looking at alternative treatments to help alleviate some of her suffering,” Ralph said. “We found hemp that was high in CBD (cannabidiol) oil stopped her seizures.” Ralph owns Palmetto Harmony, a company that makes products from CBD. She was one of 20 farmers selected to be a part of the state’s industrial hemp pilot program last year. In a few weeks, she said she will have 15,000 plants. Right now, a proposed federal law would remove hemp from the controlled substance list. That could mean even more hemp farms. State agriculture officials aim to turn hemp farming into a $50 billion crop. To do this, they want to double the number of hemp farms in the state. The Department of Agriculture is doubling its pilot program in 2019 to 40 farms permitted to grow up to 40 acres of hemp each. The average farm revenue an acre is $600. For hemp it’s $1,000 an acre. Farmers are applying to get in on the action. “Quite a number of them came from traditional farmers, such as tobacco, cotton, those crops that grow so well in the Pee Dee,” said SCDA Commissioner Hugh Weathers. Industrial hemp is used in food, clothing, and even door panels on BMWs made in South Carolina, Right now it’s being imported. “We want to source as many for South Carolina farmers as possible, whether it goes into our automotive industry, airline industry, or others,” Weathers said.