COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio farmers are one step closer to planting hemp as soon as this spring following a vote Thursday by a legislative rule-making committee.

The rules approved by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review were required by last year’s Ohio legislative hemp legalization bill, and should take final effect next month.

With the passage of the rules, the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s goal remains to have farmers licensed and able to plant this spring, Gongwer News Service reported. The federal government legalized hemp cultivation in 2018.

The Ohio Farm Bureau has said that industrial hemp will give farmers another crop option and potential revenue stream that could offset “years of declining commodity prices.”