• extending the harvesting window to 30 days
• improving sampling requirements
• allowing remediation
• raising the negligence threshold from .5% THC to 1% THC.

Midwest Hemp Council’s 2021 Hemp at the Crossroads conference, originally scheduled for February 4-5, 2021, has been postponed until December 1-3, 2021.

U.S. seed developer New West Genetics (NWG) has released ABOUND, a line of dioecious hemp seeds for row crop farming, suggesting that conventional outdoor growing offers a path to scalability, dual-cropping of CBD and grain, and a stable supply chain.

Stakeholders in the U.S. state of Kentucky say they will launch a re-branded, independent hemp organization after a falling out with the national Hemp Industries Association (HIA).

On August 6, 2020, the Seventh Circuit denied the Petition for Rehearing regarding the pending smokable hemp litigation in Indiana. The practical impact of this denial means that Indiana will be free to prosecute farmers, small businesses and other entrepreneurs that grow and/or sell smokable hemp beginning on August 13, 2020.

Belgian hemp block maker IsoHemp said it has raised nearly €7 million to build a new high-tech factory, as the company sees demand rising for its pre-formed building materials.

As interest in hemp fiber applications grows, U.S. farm technology innovator Formation Ag says it is getting a growing number of inquiries about its mid-size hemp decortication units.

National hemp groups are organizing a campaign to establish a checkoff program – a sometimes-acrimonious system designed to raise money for industry research and promotion by taxing those who profit from the plant.

The long awaited ruling from the Seventh Circuit on criminalizing smokable hemp arrived late yesterday evening. The decision is a mixed bag for the industry in that the decision affirmed part of the district court’s rationale for the injunction but found that the injunction was too broad. We believe the 7th Circuit’s decision affirms the unconstitutionality of portions of SEA 516 and look forward to addressing those arguments on remand. As of now, the injunction being lifted will officially be in effect on July 29, 2020. You should plan to have all smokable hemp products off the shelf by this date.

Read the ruling here.

 Midwest Hemp Council Member, Mark Boyer, tells us “I will be adding hemp seed oil to our lineup of cold pressed, farm grown oils in hopes of establishing a value based market for this form of hemp. This crop with its many different forms and markets, has the long term potential of being a solid performer as a rotational crop in production agriculture."

At Agribusiness Council of Indiana's 2020 conference & expo, Midwest Hemp Council President Justin Swanson, State Seed Administrator Don Robison and HempRise LLC's Charlie Bowman will discuss the rapidly evolving hemp industry in Indiana during an hour long breakout session on Wednesday, August 12. Swanson will focus on state and federal enabling legislation, Robison will focus on the relevant rules and production statistics, and Bowman will provide an overview of HempRise LLC's $52M processing facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

For information about the session, click here.

Dallas-based Panda Biotech today announced it is jumpstarting the state’s new industrial hemp industry by donating more than 60 tons of approved hemp fiber seed to Texas agricultural producers. The company is a first mover in the United States for processing textile-quality, high-grade fiber and hurd from hemp for various manufacturing applications.