Agriculture Funding Bill Includes $16M In Assistance To Hemp Farmers

The House Appropriations Committee today approved the fiscal year 2021 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill by voice vote. The legislation funds agencies and programs within the Department of Agriculture, the Farm Credit Administration, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Total discretionary funding in the legislation is $23.98 billion, an increase of $487 million above the FY 2020 enacted level. In total, the bill allows for $153 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding, an increase of $331 million above the FY 2020 enacted level. A portion of this funding — $16.5 million — is designated for USDA’s hemp production program.

The National Industrial Hemp Council(NIHC) shared a breakdown of what this funding means for the hemp industry:

There are three things important to the hemp industry to highlight in this year’s agriculture spending bill.

First, the legislation included $16 million that ensures that the regulatory process at USDA will move forward to allow for hemp production through the USDA. NIHC sees this as a down payment for our industry and assistance that can help hemp farmers continue to prosper in this new market created by the 2018 farm bill. Last year, our industry produced over $4 billion worth of hemp crops and its estimated that will grow to over $20 billion by the year 2025.

Second, the agriculture spending bill requested from the USDA data on the amount of acreage of hemp crops that must be destroyed because the THC limit exceeds .03 percent. This report would be delivered to Congress sometime in the next fiscal year.

Third, the Ag spending bill also increased funding at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by $5 million for the agency to continue its review of over-the-counter CBD products available to consumers. The NIHC hopes this can give the agency the tools it needs to provide regulatory certainty for CBD products. It’s been over one year since the FDA received comments on CBD regulations and we believe that it’s time for the agency to engage. Having a regulatory framework in place for CBD products can only strengthen the hemp economy while delivering safe products to consumers across the United States.

The FY2021 Ag spending bill still needs to be voted on in the full House of Representatives and passed by the Senate before going to the President for his signature.

Learn more from the National Industrial Hemp Council at https://hempindustrial.com.