NutraCast: How amendments in the 2023 Farm Bill could shape the hemp industry

This content item was originally published on www.nutraingredients-usa.com, a William Reed online publication.

By Danielle Masterson

- Last updated on GMT

NutraCast: How amendments in the 2023 Farm Bill could shape the hemp industry
Over the course of the next year, lawmakers on the US House and Senate agriculture committees will draft a new federal Farm Bill that will shape a number of programs for the next five years. What does that mean for the hemp industry?

Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Blake Schroeder said including some language to regulate CBD in this next Farm Bill is much needed.

“The respectable players in the industry just would like some guidance. The 2018 Farm Bill made clear that anything with less than .03% THC is completely legal for use in foods and food supplements. Well, where do those products fall–are they foods? Are they food supplements? Is there some kind of a different category? These are clearly foods or dietary supplements and just some guidance in that respect would be a great win for the industry.” 

Medical Marijuana, Inc. sits on a roundtable with the US Hemp Authority, a group Schroeder said was very influential in the 2018 Farm Bill and said he expects the same for the next iteration. 

One big change Schroeder hopes to see is the 0.3% THC limit go up to 1%. 

“We would love to see the limit go to 1%. First of all, we think we could provide way better products to people and second of all, we care about free access to cannabis to people. And the reason why we care about that is because we've seen clients of our company just have really, really tremendous results. And so we want to be able to provide the best high quality product possible for them. And we believe that if you can provide up to 1% THC, which we still think is non-psychoactive, it would be great for consumers, it'd be great for the industry and in the end, what we'd like to see is full cannabis, legalization, and and so, it'd be another step closer to that.”

Although he doesn’t expect it to be in the next Farm Bill, Schroeder and the US Hemp Authority would also like banking to be addressed. 

“Cannabis companies trying to do banking is still very, very tough and so that needs to open up a little bit. And hopefully if we get a little bit more clarity out of the Farm Bill, maybe more banks will become willing to do business with full-blown cannabis companies,”​ said Schroeder. 

If you want to get involved, the House and Senate agriculture committees are accepting feedback. The Senate Ag Committee has an online form​ and House Ag also has a form on its website​. 

To hear more about what’s at stake, listen to the NutraCast.

You can also subscribe on iTunes​, Spotify​, Stitcher​ and wherever you get your podcasts.

CBD entrepreneur Floyd Landis to share vision in upcoming webinar

Please join us for an upcoming webinar put on by NutraIngredients-USA​. Floyd Landis will be joined by Steven Hoffman, principal of Compass Natural Marketing, Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the US Hemp Roundtable and Sibyl Swift, PhD, head of scientific and regulatory affairs for cbdMD.

The webinar is scheduled for 11CT/12ET on Oct. 20, 2022.  For more information and to register for this FREE event, please click here​.

Related topics Regulation & policy CBD / Hemp

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