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Will the Hemp Industry Survive the Miller Amendment?

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

Release Date: 05/29/2024

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

In this episode of the Industrial Hemp Podcast, we take you to the GreenBuild Conference and Expo in Philadelphia, the world’s largest event dedicated to green building and sustainable construction. This annual gathering brings together architects, engineers, builders, and innovators, all focused on creating a more sustainable future for the built environment. Under the banner of The Goodness of Hemp, an inspiring collective of hemp-based businesses showcased their products and vision for the future of construction. From cutting-edge materials to bold collaborations, this episode highlights...

Montana 2024, Part One: The Goodness of Hemp

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

This is part one of our coverage of the 2024 Montana Hemp Summit, also known as the "Goodness of Hemp" Summit, that took place in Great Falls, Montana, Oct. 15-17. First, please take action now. Help support the campaign. The episode opens with a conversation with Ken Elliott, co-founder of IND HEMP in Montana. Host Eric Hurlock and Ken talk about the recent summit, the introduction of HEMI, and why people in the hemp industry should stop what they’re doing right now and go help throw in on the "One Plant" documentary film . Then you'll hear a series of interviews that Eric...

National Hemp Associaton Recieves $19.6 Million USDA Climate Smart Grant

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

In this special episode of the Industrial Hemp Podcast*, we talk to Erica Stark, executive director of the National Hemp Association (NHA), and Lancaster County regenerative hemp farmer Steve Groff. Together, they break down the exciting news that the USDA has awarded $19.6 million to support a transformative project focused on climate-smart hemp farming in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The project aims to help farmers adopt regenerative practices using industrial hemp, reduce agricultural runoff, and protect the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Erica and Steve discuss how the grant will benefit...

Exploring Hemp Opportunities in Japan

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the Hemp Podcast, we travel to Japan. Not literally, but vicariously. Our three guests recently attended the inaugural Tokyo International Hemp Conference last month and toured an 8th generation hemp farm and processing facility called Golden Hemp that makes sacred ropes used in Shinto temples. On this episode we will talk to Jean Lotus, Robin Destiche and Patrick Atagi. The trip was organized by the National Industrial Hemp Council of America and was funded by USDA’s Regional Agricultural Promotion Program. Lotus, the publisher of Hemp Build Magazine, was fascinated to learn...

Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Seeks Knowledge in Montana

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

Secretary Russell Redding made an official Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture trip to Montana this week to meet with founders of IND HEMP, one of the largest hemp fiber and seed processors in the U.S. On this week’s podcast, Lancaster Farming catches up with Redding as he visits the hemp facility in Fort Benton, Montana. The show features a joint interview with Redding and IND HEMP founder Ken Elliott from the IND HEMP office. Redding said he originally planned to attend the Montana Hemp Summit, hosted by IND HEMP, in Great Falls later this month, but had a commitment in Pennsylvania he...

National Hemp Association Goes to Africa

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

On this week’s Hemp Podcast, we talk to Geoff Whaling from the National Hemp Association, who recently returned from a trip to Africa. The trip, funded by a USDA Emerging Markets Program grant, focused on developing hemp exports to Malawi, Rwanda and Ghana. The purpose of the trip, Whaling said, “was to undertake a review and to report back to USDA as to the barriers for exporting American grown hemp products into those three countries.” In Malawi, he met with government officials, including President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, who Whaling said was impressed with the economic...

Hemp Fiber & Grain Field Day at Cornell AgriTech

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

On the latest episode of the Hemp Podcast, we take the show on the road once more — this time to Cornell University’s Hemp Fiber and Grain Field Day at the Agritech Campus in Geneva, New York. Among the many voices on this episode is Christine Smart, director of , who’s leading groundbreaking work on hemp diseases and crop resilience. Hailee Greene, a recent Cornell MBA grad and founder of , talks about her ambitious plans to establish the first full-scale hemp-processing facility in New York, despite the financial challenges that lie ahead. “We’re a couple million dollars away,...

Seed to Sovereignty: Voices from Lower Sioux

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

MORTON, Minn. — The celebrated the opening of its new hemp-processing facility with a full day of hemp education and demonstrations on September 5, 2024. This processing plant brings the tribe one step closer to what it calls “Seed to Sovereignty,“ where the tribe creates its own supply chain: growing the hemp to be processed in the facility, where it will be made into hempcrete houses to address the housing crisis on the reservation through agriculture. This week on the Hemp Podcast, we bring you conversations from the Lower Sioux. We’ll hear from Danny Desjarlais, project manager...

Lancaster County Hemp Circuit, Part Two

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week's podcast is Part Two of our Lancaster County Hemp Circuit Coverage. Editor's note: Hey there, it's me Eric. I'm traveling this week to Minnesota for the Field Day at the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation, so in order to get the podcast out to you in a timely manner, I gave the transcript of the audio to my ChatGPT buddy and asked for a break down. And that's what the following is: AI-generated text. Thank you for your understanding! -e Here’s a breakdown of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast episode titled Lancaster Hemp Circuit, Part Two: Who: Eric Hurlock: Host of the...

Pennsylvania Hemp Shines Bright in the Spotlight

Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the Hemp Podcast we bring you Part One of our coverage of the Lancaster County Hemp Circuit, a two-day, four-farm hemp event that shone a bright light on hemp in Pennsylvania and attracted attendees from all over the U.S. and a few foreign countries. On Part One of our Hemp Circuit coverage on the podcast, we hear from a handful of out-of-state attendees. We’ll hear a few impressions of the county. “It’s beautiful farmland,” said Larry Smart, a plant breeder and head of the hemp program at Cornell University. “I’ll just say the roads here are twisty and turny. We’re...

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On this week’s hemp podcast we discuss a recent amendment to the House draft of the 2024 Farm Bill known as the Miller Amendment, which was introduced by Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill.

The amendment effectively bans all hemp products with any amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the naturally occurring chemical compound found in the cannabis plant.

The 2018 Farm Bill defined hemp as any cannabis with less than 0.3% THC.

But because of vague guidance from the Drug Enforcement Administration and Food and Drug Administration, a cottage market has developed for intoxicating products from otherwise legal hemp, such as delta-8.

In March, 21 attorneys general from around the country signed a statement imploring Congress to close this perceived loophole, saying these unregulated, intoxicating products were packaged and marketed to children.

In a statement on her website, Miller said delta-8 products were being sold in packaging that looks like candy.

“We must stop teenagers and children from being exposed to addictive and harmful drugs,” Miller said.

Miller is from a farming background and represents a rural district in southern Illinois.

Many in the hemp industry think this amendment will have unintended consequences that could shut down the industry and destroy the livelihoods of people who are making legal and safe hemp products.

On the show this week, Lancaster Farming talks to two lawyers serving the hemp industry to hear their perspectives.

Justin Swanson, a cannabis lawyer from Bose McKinney & Evans in Indiana and the president of the Midwest Hemp Council, says the amendment is bad for the overall industry, citing harm to fiber and grain sectors and genetics.

“In my opinion, it eliminates the genetic seed stock that farmers have built, over the last six years, under the broad definition of the ’18 Farm Bill,” he said.

Courtney Moran of Agricultural Hemp Solutions is legislative counsel to the National Hemp Association.

Moran believes this amendment will have less of an effect on the fiber and grain sector, but still finds the new language troubling for the overall industry.

Moran doesn’t see it as an “industry-killing” amendment, as it’s been presented in online headlines.

“I would not uses those words,” she said. “It is a major shift from the policies and language that we’ve seen in both the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills,” and if it moves forward it will have major consequences.

But she reminds listeners that this is only the House draft and there are many more procedural hoops the Farm Bill must go through before being signed into law.

Both lawyers suggest that the amendment has Big Marijuana’s fingers all over it.

The legally murky market for delta-8 and other hemp-derived intoxicants is cutting into the marijuana industry’s profits.

Also on this episode, we check in with Morris Beegle, founder of the NoCo hemp Expo in Colorado, who tells us more about the June 5-7 European Industrial Hemp Conference and Expo in the Czech Republic.

Learn More:

Justin Swanson

[email protected]

317-684-5404

The Cannabis Practice Group at Bose McKinney & Evans

https://www.boselaw.com/cannabusiness/

Midwest Hemp Council

https://www.midwesthempcouncil.com/

Courtney Moran

[email protected]

202-656-7023

Blog: https://www.agriculturalhempsolutions.com/blog