The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved Florida’s hemp program that will allow farmers to grow hemp in the future, marking the official start of the hemp industry in the Sunshine State. On April 16, the Department of Agriculture announced that the hemp production plan under the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program for Florida has […]
Industrial hemp
Louisiana licenses issued allowing farmers to grow hemp
Louisiana started handing out its first licenses to farmers to grow industrial hemp this month, after lawmakers legalized the crop in a bid to start a new agricultural industry in the state. “Our industrial hemp program administrators worked hard to ensure the regulatory framework was in place as soon as feasibly possible and in time […]
South Dakota House passes industrial hemp bill, sends it to Senate
The industrial hemp bill has passed the South Dakota House and is now headed to the Senate. The House passed HB 1008 in a 54-12 vote on Tuesday. The bill needs a two-thirds majority vote to pass because it includes an emergency clause that would put the bill into effect immediately upon being signed into […]
A bill to legalize hemp in Idaho is coming back in 2020
Before long, Ryan Shore hopes to be in Idaho talking to hemp farmers about buying some of his company’s crop. It may seem like an optimistic stance to take for the CEO of Big Sky Scientific, the cannabidiol, or CBD, company whose 6,701-pound shipment of hemp ignited a political firestorm in Idaho after being confiscated […]
New hemp market taking shape in rural Minnesota
Seventy-five years ago, a May newspaper article reported 5,000 tons of hemp were stacked at the site of the Hutchinson hemp plant — where 3M now stands — with 2,000 more yet to be hauled there. Another article in October reports the Hutchinson plant is one of 11 to be closed in Minnesota following the […]
Maine hemp farmers fear proposed rule change could cost them their crop
Maine is proposing new hemp farming rules that would change the way it calculates how much THC is allowed in state-licensed plants, effectively reducing the already small amount of psychoactive element allowed in this cash crop to prepare farmers for demanding new federal limitations. Using the proposed potency formula, 27 percent of the farmers growing […]
Virginia legal landscape shifts as cannabis support grows
RICHMOND, Va. — “We do grams, eighths, quarters, half ounces, pounds, wholesale pounds — however you want it,” Jacob Stretch said, standing between crates of dried hemp in his living room that doubles as his hemp processing and drying facility. Stretch, owner of Chesapeake Blue, just finished his first season growing industrial hemp as a […]
In their first year, U.S. hemp farmers struggle with bad weather, mold, inexperience
Ajit Singh strode across his 16-acre hemp field toward a broken-down harvester. He’d been hoping all day that the mechanic now crouched beside the machine could get it back up and running. It was late October and Singh still had thousands of stinky green and purple cannabis plants across 425 acres to pick, dry and […]
California Industrial Hemp Measure Becomes Law
Senator Scott Wilk, representing the 21st Senate District, announces Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 153 (SB 153) into law. SB 153 ensures California law is in full compliance with changes to federal law regarding the cultivation of industrial hemp. SB 153 requires the Secretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA), in consultation […]
The new weed on the block: hemp
In 2014, Kentucky farmer Brian Furnish was looking for ways to diversify his crops. His family had been growing tobacco for eight generations, but the market was withering. If he wanted to keep his farm profitable, he needed something new to grow. So he helped pioneer Kentucky’s hemp industry, a new crop the state was […]
