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Senate Democrats are proposing key changes to federal hemp laws as part of a large-scale agriculture bill\u2014including eliminating a ban on participation in the industry by people with felony drug convictions and reducing regulatory barriers for hemp farmers growing for grain or fiber.<\/p>\n
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee released a section-by-section summary of the chamber\u2019s version of the 2024 Farm Bill on Wednesday. It also calls for freeing up federal food assistance benefits for people with drug convictions on their records.<\/p>\n
The GOP-controlled House Agriculture Committee also posted a much shorter summary of its own separate version of the legislation. While it doesn\u2019t contain any explicit references to hemp-related issues, a top industry group advised stakeholders not to \u201cread too much into that\u201d because they\u2019ve had discussions with leadership on both sides and remain \u201chopeful that several items of our agenda will be incorporated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate bill\u2019s summary says it updates the definition of hemp and \u201clowers regulatory barriers for farmers who are growing industrial hemp for grain and fiber.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also removes the ban \u201con persons who were previously convicted of a felony relating to a controlled substance from participating in the program or producing hemp.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable is also calling attention to the lack of details around the proposed redefining of hemp, cautioning<\/a> stakeholders about efforts by certain industry groups and prohibitionists to use the agriculture legislation to outright ban hemp-derived cannabinoid products that have \u201crescued the industry and farmers in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the Roundtable, told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday that the association is \u201cpleased to see the reductions in regulatory burdens for fiber and grain farmers and the repeal of the hemp felon ban for all hemp farmers in the Senate summary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to seeing specifics when the language is released,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also pleased that, so far, we have not seen any efforts to prohibit or federally criminalize hemp products that have been advocated recently in the last few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Both of the hemp-focused proposals described in the Senate committee summary appear responsive to standalone legislation that\u2019s been introduced this session to build upon the federal legalization of the crop under the previous 2018 Farm Bill. A press release from Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of the committee, notes that the legislation incorporates provisions from over 100 bills.<\/p>\n Bipartisan senators and House members last year filed legislation to reduce regulations on farmers that grow industrial hemp<\/a> for non-extraction purposes. Under the measures, farmers that cultivate industrial hemp would no longer be subject to background checks<\/a> in order to participate in the market, and they wouldn\u2019t have to fulfill rigorous sampling and testing requirements.<\/p>\n With respect to lifting the felony conviction ban for hemp farmers, Reps. David Trone (D-MD), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced the \u201cFree to Grow Act\u201d last March<\/a>. They said upon introduction that it would end what they called a \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d federal policy barring people with prior felony drug convictions from owning or leading legal hemp businesses.<\/p>\n Pingree also introduced legislation last session titled the \u201cHemp Advancement Act\u201d that would reduce regulatory barriers for hemp farmers cultivating the crop for fiber or grain<\/a>, while enacting other changes favored by stakeholders such as increasing the THC threshold for legal hemp from 0.3 percent THC by dry weight to one percent.<\/p>\n The summary<\/a> of the Senate bill does not mention any decision to increase the THC threshold, but the full text of the legislation has not yet been introduced. House members, for their part, have yet to release<\/a> any details of how their bill might address the hemp industry\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a serious proposal that reflects bipartisan priorities to keep farmers farming, families fed, and rural communities strong,\u201d Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chair of the committee, said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe foundation of every successful Farm Bill is built on holding together the broad, bipartisan coalition of farmers, rural communities, nutrition and hunger advocates, researchers, conservationists, and the climate community. This is that bill, and I welcome my Republican colleagues to take it seriously and rejoin us at the negotiating table so we can finish our work by the end of the year. Farmers, families, and rural communities cannot wait any longer on the 2024 Farm Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawmakers and stakeholders have also been eyeing a number of other proposals that could be incorporated into the Farm Bill, including measures to free up hemp businesses to legally market products like CBD<\/a> as dietary supplements or in the food supply.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, the hemp market started to rebound in 2023 after suffering significant losses the prior year, the latest annual industry report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)<\/a> that was released last month found.<\/p>\n The\u00a0data\u00a0is the\u00a0result\u00a0of a\u00a0survey that USDA mailed to thousands of hemp farmers\u00a0across the U.S.<\/a> in January. The\u00a0first version of the department\u2019s hemp report<\/a>\u00a0was released in early 2022, setting a \u201cbenchmark\u201d to compare to as the industry matures.<\/p>\n Bipartisan lawmakers and industry stakeholders have sharply criticized FDA for declining to enact regulations for hemp-derived CBD, which they say is largely responsible for the economic stagnation.<\/p>\n To that end,\u00a0FDA Commissioner Robert Califf testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee<\/a> last month, where he faced questions about the agency\u2019s position that it needed additional congressional authorization to regulate the non-intoxicating cannabinoid.<\/p>\n USDA is also reportedly revoking hemp licenses for farmers who are simultaneously growing marijuana<\/a>\u00a0under state-approved programs, underscoring yet another policy conflict stemming from the ongoing federal prohibition of some forms of the cannabis plant.<\/p>\n For the time being, the hemp industry continues to face unique regulatory hurdles that stakeholders blame for the crop\u2019s value plummeting in the short years since its legalization. Despite the economic conditions, however, a recent report found that\u00a0the hemp market in 2022 was larger than all state marijuana markets<\/a>, and it roughly equaled sales for craft beer nationally.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, internally at USDA, food safety workers are being\u00a0encouraged to exercise caution and avoid cannabis products<\/a>, including federally legal CBD, as the agency observes an \u201cuptick\u201d in positive THC tests amid \u201cconfusion\u201d as more states enact legalization.<\/p>\n Schumer Suggests Marijuana Banking Could Still Be Attached To Aviation Bill, As GOP House And Senate Leaders Reaffirm Opposition<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Hemp Growers Would See Reduced Regulatory Barriers Under Senate Democrats\u2019 Farm Bill<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Senate Democrats are proposing key changes to federal hemp laws as part of a large-scale agriculture bill\u2014including eliminating a ban on participation in the industry by people with felony drug convictions and reducing regulatory barriers for hemp farmers growing for grain or fiber. The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry CommitteeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":74900,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74901,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74899\/revisions\/74901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Hemp Growers Would See Reduced Regulatory Barriers Under Senate Democrats\u2019 Farm Bill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"