According to reports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is revoking the hemp licenses of farmers who grow marijuana in state-approved programs. This highlights yet another policy conflict arising from the federal prohibition of certain forms of cannabis.
After hemp was legalized federally under the 2018 Farm Bill (Farm Bill), states began developing rules that would allow farmers to enter into the market. Others chose to use the generic USDA plan. Farmers in the states that fall under this category claim they have been threatened to abandon plans to grow hemp and marijuana.
USDA has not revealed how many farmers were contacted about the issue. However, Vermont-based farmer Sam Bellavance , told 7 Days that he had received an email saying that “regulations do not allow a hemp-licensee who is also producing marijuana to be licensed by a state-based program.”
James Pepper, the chair of Vermont Cannabis Control Board’s (CCB), stated that the policy is confusing to hemp farmers as well.
He said, “I believe there is confusion at the USDA as to whether this is possible.”
Vermont is one out of eight states operating under USDA’s hemp regulation plan. The majority have medical marijuana or recreational marijuana programs. Farmers in these states are at risk of losing hemp licenses when they grow both marijuana and hemp.
A USDA spokesperson appeared to reject that notion, however. told Politicalo that the agency “regulates all states and growers [in the hemp program] in the same manner.”
He told the outlet that, “while the 2018 Farm Bill legalized the hemp production, marijuana is still a Schedule 1 controlled substance under federal laws.” “This creates a unique regulatory and jurisdictional landscape, which producers of traditional agricultural products do not need to navigate.”
The administrative management of the issue is unclear. Chris Beerman, who is a Missouri farmer, told Politico he was warned by a USDA official that he could lose his hemp license if the state began to implement a marijuana program.
In Mississippi, Eric Sorenson reported that the USDA informed him that he would lose his hemp license soon after he had been approved to grow marijuana for medical purposes under state law.
According to Politico, a representative of the agency told him that “Medical Cannabis is not federally-legal, and we won’t be able allow you to keep your hemp license as well as your medical cannabis cultivator licence”.
Marijuana Moment contacted USDA to clarify the policy but was unable to get an immediate response.
Jonathan Miller, General Counsel to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable told Marijuana Moment the situation was “not only unfortunate, but also counterintuitive.”
He said that “the expertise gained from growing one plant can be transferred to another–they are basically the same species. Having a black and white bar is bad public policies.” “I hope USDA will revisit this and, if they feel their hands are bound by law, we should make changes to the Farm Bill.”
The next version of large-scale agriculture law will include a number changes that are intended to benefit hemp farmers. would allow hemp businesses to sell products such as CBD in food or dietary supplements.
As lawmakers draft the new version of the legislation, they could address the issue of hemp farmers being forced out of state cannabis markets due to USDA’s interpretations of its statutory requirements. Congress was supposed to update the legislation this year. However, the current version of the bill has been extended for a year by President Joe Biden’s stopgap spending bill signed earlier this month.
Despite the economic conditions, however, a recent report found that a href=”https://www.marijuanamoment.net/sales-of-hempderived-cannabinoids like cbd are outpacing legal marijuana and are on par with craft beer” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank>the hemp market in 2022 was larger than all state marijuana markets/a>. A recent report, despite the economic conditions, found that in 2022, the hemp market was larger than the state marijuana markets and roughly equaled the sales of craft beer nationwide.
While internal at USDA, food workers are being advised to avoid cannabis products including federally legalized CBD. The agency has observed an “uptick in positive THC test results amid confusion” as more States legalize.
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Photo by Brendan Cleak.
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