Hemp has boomed since Congress approved the plant for nationwide production in the 2018 farm bill. Production jumped from 90,000 acres in 2018 to an estimated 146,000 acres last year, according to USDA.

While it remains a small crop within the industry, it is gaining attention because of its apparent immunity to the coronavirus.

In fact, trade groups say the strict social distancing measures are actually driving sales as people shuttered in their homes buy more cannabidiol products (CBD is derived from hemp) for their purported calming effects.

Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said many hemp businesses “are doing better with online sales than they were prior to the pandemic.”

The relative good times are not universal for hemp growers. And for those who are struggling, accessing federal stimulus programs could be a headache.

For one thing, farmers are only eligible for direct aid from USDA if they demonstrate that their prices have declined by 5 percent since January. That’s tricky for hemp producers because of their harvest schedule, the lack of a major hemp futures market and a shortage of data on the relatively nascent industry.

Source: Politico

The NHA will join New Holland at farm shows in North America, delivering educational sessions and panel discussions and exhibiting products produced from hemp.

The alliance will also work toward solving the industry’s biggest challenge: the absence of commercial scale harvesting and decortication equipment needed to meet demand. In order to begin laying the foundation of an integrated North American hemp supply chain, the alliance will call on other industry partners to join a “Hemp Pledge” and commit to purchasing hemp grown and processed in the U.S.

“We see this exclusive partnership as a way to bring the nation’s leading hemp advocates and educators to events where they can respond to the issues of most concern to farmers, manufacturers, processors and the general public,” said Brett Davis, vice president, New Holland North America.

“It will also provide New Holland with the opportunity to hear from our dealer network, our customers and the more than 115,000 farmers who are looking to New Holland to bring forward supply chain solutions,” Davis said.

Source: CNH

In the first year of widespread commercial cultivation, hemp planting quadrupled as growers sought a profitable alternative to crops ensnared in trade disputes.

While Congress approved hemp cultivation, the FDA has not yet cleared CBD for use in food and drinks, and the murky regulatory environment has limited expansion in the processing sector.

Delta Separations, a California-based manufacturer with booming sales of extraction machines used to make CBD, estimated that as much as $7.5 billion in hemp may rot on farms.

CEO Roger Cockroft said there hasn’t been the ability to install the infrastructure to support the fledgling crop, which has created a situation in which “farmers are scrambling.”

Banks also are reluctant to lend to businesses that may appear to be linked to marijuana, curbing prospects for processing expansion, Cockroft said.

“The market has developed and matured and expanded at such a rapid rate that the federal government is playing catch up,” said Beau Whitney, an economist at Whitney Economics.

A survey by Whitney Economics in July found that 65 percent of hemp farmers failed to find a crop buyer. Since then, many have obtained contracts from companies that may face a cash crunch.

Blake Butler, the executive director of the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association, said too many farmers made a shift amid prospects for greater profit.

The CBD craze spurred reports that “you can make money overnight, and that is not the case,” Butler said. He anticipates the industry will balance out over time.

Source: Bloomberg

Because of a mapping error, Pendarvis is accused of violating the 2019 Hemp Farming Act.

That law doesn’t specify any punishment for breaking the S.C. Department of Agriculture’s strict licensing rules.

Source:

SAFE Banking Act on House floor this week

Sept 23, 2019 — The House is expected to consider the (H.R. 1595) this week. The bill would provide protections for financial institutions that serve cannabis-based businesses in states where it is legal.

The vote will be under suspension of the rules — a procedure reserved for bills with at least a two-thirds majority support. If rules are suspended on the bill, there will be only 40 minutes of discussion and no amendments allowed. Lawmakers and lobbyists whipping votes told POLITICO they felt confident they have the votes.

“I think we’ll have —we could have 300 votes. There’s overwhelming support for it,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer told Natalie on Thursday.

Industrial hemp production became legal in the 2018 farm bill, but states have had the option to create pilot projects since 2014. Roughly half of all states had some hemp farming last year. Nebraska had the smallest program, but that will change soon. The state’s expanded hemp program has received 176 applications.

The USDA is expected to release hemp production rules as soon as this month.
Source: Politico

Noem took her industrial hemp opposition national on Tuesday, writing in a , “If the issue comes up this year, I will veto it again.” South Dakota, Idaho and Mississippi are the only states that haven’t legalized industrial hemp.

Opinion in WSJ By Kristi Noem – Sept. 9, 2019 6:38 pm ET

When I was sworn in as South Dakota’s governor in January, opposing industrial hemp and marijuana legalization weren’t on my list of key issues. But during the first legislative session of my tenure, I vetoed a measure to legalize industrial hemp. If the issue comes up this year, I will veto it again.

I come from a farming and ranching family. Nothing would make me happier than finding a way to introduce a new cash crop into South Dakota’s agricultural economy—especially as we’ve been struggling with the effects of devastating floods and trade uncertainty. Industrial hemp isn’t that crop.

Across the country, states that have legalized hemp are struggling to enforce marijuana regulations. Hemp and marijuana look and smell the same. Police officers can’t tell the difference between them during a traffic stop.

“We have to be able to distinguish between hemp and marijuana,” a law-enforcement official in Ohio told a local news station after the Buckeye State legalized industrial hemp. “That is not possible for a human being to do. That has to be done through crime analysis.”

Yet many crime labs are also unable to distinguish between the two plants. They can detect the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, but can’t determine how much is there. The technology to do so exists, but it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And a full crime analysis from a private lab can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per test, a price tag too steep for many local law-enforcement agencies. Even if they could afford it, the results often take weeks.

Since Texas passed an industrial hemp law in June, prosecutors have dropped hundreds of marijuana cases and have stopped accepting new ones until more-accurate tests are available to discern the drug from its now-legal counterpart. It’s easy to see why: Without the ability to test the level of THC in a plant, labs can’t provide useful scientific evidence for use in court. Any case of suspected marijuana possession in states with legal hemp requires this expensive and time-consuming testing. Prosecutors quickly get overwhelmed.

Many states are experimenting with legalizing marijuana. Until law enforcement can quickly and affordably differentiate between marijuana and hemp, states that have legalized hemp have essentially legalized marijuana as well.

Every experiment needs a control. I believe the social experiment our nation is conducting with highly potent legal weed will end poorly. But to create evidence for a comparison, we need leaders willing to stand up and say, “No.”

Ms. Noem is governor of South Dakota.