After establishing the Midwest Hemp Council Animal Feed Committee and forming a partnership with the Hemp Feed Coalition, exciting progress is being made in unifying the HFC’s vision with MHC membership.

As a complement to today's podcast episode, featuring Commercial Director Ryan Bellone, KCA labs created this handy guide to reading and understanding a certificate of analysis.

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.

Last week, The Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) of the U.S. Small Business Administration submitted a comment letter in response to the reopening of the public comment period for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) interim final rule. They urged AMS to extend the public comment period for a minimum of 30 additional days to allow for small businesses and their representatives to fully and meaningfully participate in this important rulemaking.

To read their letter, click here.

Agrozen Labs, an MHC member and the first non-governmental lab in Indiana to offer certified hemp testing, is offering a 10% discount to Midwest Hemp Council members! Their goal is to help farmers and formulators stay compliant with state and federal rules and regulations – so they work closely with the Office of the Indiana State Chemist and the University of Kentucky to ensure reliable and consistent results.

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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).

The state of New York will not submit a state hemp plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), saying the federal program‘s requirements are too strict on growers. The announcement effectively puts on hold the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ hemp program.

“It’s an interesting situation trying to figure out how to navigate. Having a revenue stream shut down as a small business is very detrimental for investing in our business and home state here. We’re trying to scale our business, and having restrictions like this are detrimental to us trying to build jobs and providing economic impact. It has a heavy impact on businesses like us.”

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.

Before the first seed was tucked into Texas soil, farmers and investors eager for a different kind of green revolution flocked to Dallas in January for the Texas Hemp Convention. It was the state’s largest such gathering yet, the culmination of a year’s worth of buzz following the Texas Legislature’s 2019 legalization of industrial hemp. Part of the cannabis family, the plant, unlike its relative marijuana, contains only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive compound. But it is rich in CBD, a chemical component used as an ingredient in FDA-approved medication and in home remedies to treat anxiety, pain, insomnia, and even seizures.

Read more in Texas Monthly.

The top Democrat in the Senate is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to delay issuing final regulations for hemp until 2022, citing stakeholder concerns and the challenges of state compliance that have arisen due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As U.S. Hemp Roundtable shared in earlier communications, the USDA’s initial foray into regulating the growth and processing of hemp has caused some heartburn for U.S. hemp farmers. It’s an industry consensus that the agency’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) does not provide the kind of flexibility on issues like THC testing, hot hemp disposal and plant sampling that farmers need in order to successfully profit from their hemp crops. That’s why nearly two dozen state hemp programs have chosen to continue to operate under the authorizations provided by the 2014 Farm Bill, which are more flexible than the IFR.

Researchers in the Australian state of Tasmania are studying the nutritional value of hemp for animal feed as they look to expand opportunities for farmers.

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.

We are excited to see the FDA has submitted new CBD enforcement guidance to Office of Management and Budget for review. While this is certainly exciting news, the devil will be in the details once we are able to review the draft. For now, this is a good sign the CBD industry is potentially evolving away from forced self-regulation to clear federal guidelines.

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.

 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."