The Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday passed the massive farm bill by a 20-1 vote and overcame an attempt to tighten subsidy payments to farmers. The draft farm bill, officially known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, contains more than 1,000 pages and covers everything from farm subsidies and food stamps to trade and rural […]
Hemp Policy & Legal
US Senate Unanimously Approves Hemp Measure
The U.S. Senate, without objection from any lawmaker of either party, adopted legislation on Tuesday recognizing “the growing economic potential of industrial hemp” as well as its “historical relevance.” The resolution, which was passed to commemorate “Hemp History Week,” also decries the fact that “ the United States is the largest consumer of hemp products in the world, but the […]
For Michigan Farmers, Growing Hemp Is No Laughing Matter
For going on a century, Americans spoke of hemp in the same breath as marijuana. Both were for joking, smoking and getting arrested. And both were made illegal by the U.S. Congress in 1937. Yet, although marijuana and hemp come from the same plant — called cannabis sativa— they’re not the same. Traditional hemp can’t intoxicate […]
Could Hemp Be A Savior For Kansas Agriculture?
Clark Kelman raises corn and soybeans just like his father and grandfather did on the High Plains of Kansas. There isn’t anything wrong with that, the fifth-generation Haskell County farmer said. But with water levels declining on their southwest Kansas farm and the downturn in the farm economy, he envisions growing something different. Kelman wants […]
Can Industrial Hemp Make A Comeback In Iowa?
The momentum for legalizing industrial hemp in America is building. Iowa supporters of the once-prevalent crop, though, have moved on from being eager about its possibilities to anxious to get growing. Hemp got lumped in with its infamous sibling cannabis crop, marijuana, when it was made illegal to grow in the U.S. without a permit in 1970. But hemp […]
New York Farmers Eyeing Big Benefits From Growing Hemp That Doesn’t Get You High
When 22-year-old Owen Martinetti and a partner moved from Queens to a farm in Rensselear County, his neighbors were certain the pair were growing “weed.” They are — but not in the sense most people have in mind. To the surprise of many, they will join about 100 farmers legally planting more than 3,000 acres of cannabis across New York […]
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture’s Industrial Hemp Program Is Taking Applications
Colleges and universities can now apply to participate in a new industrial hemp program that will oversee the research of the crop as a possible addition to Oklahoma’s agricultural landscape. Lawmakers this year approved the pilot program. Individuals cannot hold a license, but they can contract with colleges and universities to produce hemp for industrial […]
Texas Backs Off Changes That Could’ve Led to CBD Confiscation, for Now
The Texas Department of State Health Services has tapped the brakes on a proposed protocol that could’ve seen all food and supplements containing cannabidiol oil removed from Texas store shelves, thanks to a deluge of comments sent to the agency last month in support of the products. “The protocol that was proposed had only addressed hemp […]
Is Legal Hemp In The Hands Of Mitch McConnell?
The future of hemp legalization is up to Mitch McConnell. Period. House supporters of the idea tried to include legalization measures into the big farm bill lawmakers have been considering, but were advised to back off McConnell’s taking care of things, they were told. Reps. Andy Barr, R-Kentucky, and James Comer, R-Kentucky, and others tried […]
Cal Poly Students Want To Grow And Study Hemp — But There’s A Big Hurdle In The Way
Two Cal Poly students are making a push to bring industrial hemp research to the university in the coming years. Ted Fitzgerald and Conor Stephen have gathered nearly 3,000 signatures from students and faculty members in support of an agricultural pilot program that would study the growth, cultivation and marketing of industrial hemp. This type […]
With A Cannabis Surplus, Oregon Marijuana Farmers Move To Hemp & CBD
A glut of legal marijuana is driving Oregon pot prices to rock-bottom levels, prompting some nervous growers to start pivoting to another type of cannabis to make ends meet — one that doesn’t come with a high. Applications for state licenses to grow hemp — marijuana’s non-intoxicating cousin — have increased more than twentyfold since […]
Arizona Farmers Are On Their Way To Growing Hemp
Don’t be surprised if sometime next year you see acres and acres of what appears to be marijuana growing, unfenced, in the desert. But don’t bother stopping to pick some to smoke. Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday signed legislation that authorizes Arizona farmers to grow hemp. Proponents contend that the plant, which can produce things […]
Wisconsin AG Schimel Gives Hemp Farmers OK To Produce CBD Oil
MADISON – Attorney General Brad Schimel says Wisconsin farmers who grow industrial hemp can produce CBD oil from it. Schimel’s statement on May 10 is a reversal from a Justice Department memo last month that said only doctors and pharmacies can distribute the oil and people can possess it only with a doctor’s certification. Hundreds of […]
Arizona Hemp Industry Ready To Take Off If Governor Ducey Signs Bill
Governor Doug Ducey, one of the state’s most aggressive cannabis-legalization opponents, may be ready to make Arizona one of the country’s leading producers of hemp. The state Legislature passed a far-reaching commercial hemp bill, SB 1098, over the last few weeks of the 2018 session and sent it to Ducey after adjournment on May 4. If […]
Wisconsin’s First Hemp Store Fights Attorney General To Keep Doors Open
Wisconsin’s first hemp store is open for business, but just two weeks in, the owner is fighting to keep his doors open. Joel Peterson has been told what he’s selling is illegal despite a new state law that allows farmers to grow and sell hemp. Hemp is grown for two main reasons. First, its fibers […]
Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Growing Hemp In Massachusetts
For the first time since marijuana was banned in the U.S., Massachusetts farmers can now grow hemp. A little-known consequence of the state’s 2016 marijuana legalization was the legalization of hemp — a crop that is made from the same plant as marijuana, but cannot cause a person to get high. Hemp is most often used […]
True Leaf to Introduce Hemp-Based Cat Treats at Interzoo
PRESS RELEASE Company also announces new distributors and expanded store reach in Europe at the world’s largest trade fair for the international pet industry VERNON, BC – May 7, 2018 – True Leaf Medicine International Ltd. (“True Leaf”) (CSE: MJ) (FSE: TLA) (OTCQB: TRLFF), a plant-focused wellness brand for people and their pets, announced today that the […]
The One Thing Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell Can Agree On: Hemp
There’s not much that the U.S. Senate’s top Republican and top Democrat agree on. But one of the few things that fosters bipartisan cooperation in Washington, D.C. these days is cannabis. On Friday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that he’s signing on as a cosponsor of a hemp legalization bill introduced last month by Majority […]
