VIENNA, W.Va. (AP) — A nonprofit trade association has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help back the effort to turn industrial hemp into the West Virginia's next niche crop.

For now, the Boring Hemp Co. is focusing on producing hemp seeds, which have been in short supply as the nascent industry finds its legs in the state.

Hemp. It’s a word you have probably heard more than once, and probably had some questions about at the time.

“This could potentially create the largest carbon-negative industry in the world."

Despite its eco-friendly nature, hemp is still not allowed for widespread cultivation in the US; rather only small-scale pilots are allowed in a few states around the country.

One enterprising group of farmers in Appalachia, made up of veterans hoping to eke out a better living for their families, has turned to hemp, and it’s making a stand in a wholly unique - and patriotic - way.

Use of hemp as a construction material is part of the revival of the crop in America, thanks to entrepreneurs who are thinking big — and small, including a Colorado firm that hosts workshops on hempcrete and builds tiny hemp houses.

New law allows people to obtain license to cultivate hemp for commercial products.

New law allows people to obtain license to cultivate hemp for commercial products.