Federal crop insurance is finally coming to some hemp farmers as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) takes more steps toward adopting new rules for hemp production. Industrial hemp farmers producing hemp for fiber, flower or seeds will be eligible for crop insurance coverage under the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) program for the 2020 crop […]
Kristen Nichols is the editor of Hemp Industry Daily. (This is an abridged version of a column that appears in the August issue of Marijuana Business Magazine.) Smokable hemp has taken hold with consumers. The unlikely trend has given hemp producers new market opportunities – and a new set of legal headaches. It seems that consumers […]
Legislation will take effect next week expanding and strengthening protections for state-qualified medical cannabis patients.
More than 50% of Hawaii’s 2019 hemp crop was destroyed because of elevated THC levels, a problem that state agriculture officials attribute to a lack of cultivars suited to a tropical climate. Eighteen crops were destroyed and another four hemp crops exceeded THC limits but were granted waivers because the THC was close to the […]
Matthew Whitaker Toronto-based CBD company Alternate Health has retained former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and his Kansas City, Missouri, law firm, Graves Garrett, to act as outside counsel. Whitaker was a controversial figure during his short term running the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump. Whitaker served as acting attorney general […]
NORML’s Jenn Michelle Pedini shares how they got the state’s conservative legislature to craft one of the American South’s most comprehensive medical marijuana bills to date
More than six months after hemp was made legal in the United States, federal drug authorities have updated their guidance to remind law enforcement that hemp is no longer a controlled substance. A notice posted Monday by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) cited the 2018 Farm Bill in noting that “certain forms of cannabis […]
“For the past three years, the DEA has failed to take any steps to follow through on its promise to facilitate clinical cannabis research, and today’s announcement makes it clear that this foot-dragging will continue,” NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said.
Wendy Mosher To maintain growth, the booming U.S. hemp industry needs a reliable supply of steady, stable seed genetics. Professional and academic plant breeders are rushing to fill the market demand, but it might take at least another five years to develop those genetics, according to longtime breeders. That’s because it takes time to breed, […]
A Minnesota hemp industry group is warning manufacturers not to order hemp biomass from other states in the wake of a South Dakota drug arrest of a deliveryman bringing plants from Colorado to Minnesota for extraction. The Minnesota warning comes as a federal appeals court prepares to hear arguments next week over hemp transportation. “The ability […]
