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The post Enthusiasm high as Irish Hemp Co-op looks to busy year was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

The Irish Hemp Cooperative has named two new board members as it plans a busy slate of activities throughout the rest of the year aimed at expanding membership in the organization.

The election to the board of Laura Foley, a partner in CBD company Canabaoil and Jack O’Connor of agri-tech firm BHSL came during a recent meeting of about 80 stakeholders who heard board member Kate Carmody give an update on the activities carried out by the board during the previous 12 months, and other presentations.

2018 was busy year

The board in 2018 met the licensing body the Health Products Regulatory Authority, visited processing facilities and businesses in other countries, obtained innovation vouchers, and applied for national and European funding.

Attendees also heard board member Ed Hainbidge give a detailed presentation on how to apply for a license to cultivate hemp in Ireland. With many of the individuals in the room keen to grow hemp for the first time, this provided valuable insight into the process involved.

The post U.S. self regulator gives its stamp of approval to 13 hemp firms was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

American self-regulator U.S. Hemp Authority has given its stamp of approval to 13 companies the group says have met its quality and safety standards.

“As the market for hemp-derived products undergoes rapid growth, it is critically important for us to signal to the world that we intend to act responsibly,” said Marielle Weintraub, U.S. Hemp Authority president. “Quality assurance and safety must come first, and that’s why we set off on this journey.”

The U.S. Hemp Authority was set in motion last year by the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a coalition of more than 50 hemp companies that lobby for hemp at the federal level.

The certification is designed specifically to educate hemp farmers and producers about Food and Drug Administration Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

The post Updated EU rules on ‘novel foods’ get it wrong on CBD was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

A recent update to the European Union’s Novel Food Catalogue is mistaken in its consideration of CBD, cannabis veteran and consultant Richard Rose writes in a detailed report issued late last week..

“The recent EU Novel Food Catalogue update was incorrect. Hemp flower products indeed have demonstrated long use, including Cannabidiol (CBD),” Rose wrote in a heavily researched and footnoted paper that argues CBD is not a novel food.

What is novel food?

Novel food is defined as food that was not consumed to a considerable degree by citizens of the EU prior to 1997, when the first regulation on novel food came into force. Novel food can be newly developed, innovative food, food produced using new technologies and production processes, and food traditionally eaten outside the EU. The regulation requires such foods be safe and be properly labeled so as not to mislead consumers, among other requirements. The upshot for food producers is a more burdensome marketplace as novel foods undergo stringent and costly authorization requirements.

Hemp flower products such as hempseed and hempseed oil (extract) are authorized novel foods under EU rules, exempt from registration as new novel foods due to demonstrated consumption in member states prior to May 1997, Rose points out.

Canopy Growth has lined up celebrity lifestyle guru Martha Stewart to advise the Canadian cannabis company in developing a new line of product offerings, including hemp-derived CBD products. Stewart said their first collaboration will offer products for pets. “As soon as you hear the name Martha, you know exactly who we’re talking about,” Canopy Growth […]

Canopy enlists celebrity Martha Stewart as CBD ‘adviser’ is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Facebook ban pushes Finnish hemp processor to the edge was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

A company which spent almost €275,000 on Facebook advertising over three years has seen its sales plummet after the online media giant started rejecting their ads. Finland-based Hemprefine Oy spent five years developing its hemp processing line at a huge cost, founder Mikko Neuvo told HempToday.

“We invested everything we had and more to build the processing line and to provide Finnish customers with hemp products,” Neuvo said.

Because Facebook turned out to be the most efficient tool for targeting specific audiences, the company decided to invest a lot of time and money for building a hemp community to support its business model. “We had to aggressively advertise hemp products in Finland because we had to create the market from scratch,” Neuvo said.

Retailers don’t need ads

He suggests Hemprefine Oy ads helped create a demand which has seen Finnish retail shops import from larger producers, which has further undermined his company’s business.

Weekly Deal Watch: Cannabis brands and hemp firms become takeover targets is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Tasmanian hemp farmers see rapid growth in coming years was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Tasmanian hemp fields could rapidly expand to 8,000 hectares (about 20,000 acres) over the next few years, stakeholders say, as long-awaited changes to Australian legislation governing the use of hemp seed are now in place.

This year around 1,600 ha of hemp is being grown in Tasmania, with a farm gate value of AU $4.5 million.

Seed in demand

Demand for hemp seed is skyrocketing and with an ideal climate, access to water and experienced growers, the state is well placed to take advantage of the booming market, Tasmanian Hemp Association (THA) president Tim Schmidt said.

“The companies operating here have got orders we need to fill, otherwise there’s a risk they could be filled by imported seed,” Schmidt said. “There’s an opportunity here for hemp to become a really important crop. The key thing we’re looking for is growers to give is a go and then keep growing it year after year.”

More than one year after Peru legalized medical cannabis, the South American country published a regulatory decree providing clarity about how the program will work, including possible cultivation and manufacture of high-THC cannabis by private companies. Details on the breadth of commercial activity that will be allowed remain vague, however. The decree, published Saturday, estimates that […]

Peru lays groundwork for commercial medical cannabis production, sales is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Government ‘rigidity’ is barrier in Serbia, but fields expand was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

While the Serbian government is supporting hemp farmers with subsidies for things like fertilizer and fuel, a lack of flexibility on other key considerations is holding up development, said Igor Bogdanovic, a leading Serbian hemp figure and President at Konoopa, a fiber processor and technology developer.

“The government itself is very rigid in regulating CBD and completely deaf to the tremendous evidence of the medicinal use of both CBD and THC,” Bogdanovic told HempToday.

Nonetheless, Bogdanovic said a few Canadian companies have imported or are about to import CO2 extraction technology, marking a shift in focus for hemp in Serbia.

GW Pharmaceuticals, the British maker of epileptic seizure-control medication Epidiolex, said it was not aware of any supply issues related to the cannabis-derived drug after a tweet from a patient’s father complained he could not source the medicine. GW’s stock was down more than 3% on Wednesday on the Nasdaq after the tweet from San […]

GW Pharma denies supply issues with marijuana-based drug Epidiolex after stock falls is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Tilray scoops up Manitoba Harvest, plans line of CBD products was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Canadian cannabis giant Tilray Inc. has has agreed to acquire hemp food maker Manitoba Harvest for $277.5 million in cash and stock, Tilray announced. The deal could reach more than $419 million based on incentives.

Nanaimo, British Columbia-based Tilray said it looks to leverage Manitoba Harvest’s production capacity and its distribution system throughout 16,000 U.S. retail outlets that include major chains Costco, Wal-Mart, and Whole Foods.

Manitoba Harvest, founded in 1998, produces hemp nuts, oil and granola. Tilray said it plans to expand into CBD-infused products such as tinctures, sprays and soft-gels where those products are permissible in the USA.

The post Tilray scoops up Manitoba Harvest, plans line of CBD products was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Cannabis giant Tilray is expanding into the natural foods category with the acquisition of hemp foods company Manitoba Harvest for 419 million Canadian dollars ($319 million) in cash and stock in an effort to capitalize on cannabidiol-infused products in North America. The acquisition will accelerate British Columbia-based Tilray’s expansion into the U.S. and Canadian markets […]

Tilray to accelerate expansion into CBD with Manitoba Harvest acquisition is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Indian textile startup has aggressive growth plans was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Indian startup Canva Fibre Labs LLP (CFL) expects to scale up this year, pushing beyond its current capacity of one ton of production daily, say the company’s founders.

“We intend to take these textiles to mainstream brands and thus are actively solving problems like how the textile feels without compromising on functional advantages, and its processability on the current infrastructure of textile like spinning and weaving,” said Shikha Shah, one of CFL’s two founders.

CFL says it has developed an indigenous proprietary technique for processing of agricultural waste from hemp plants, with output that has compatibility with current textile infrastructure. The system offers 100% green processing in which no hazardous chemicals are used to process the fiber.

The opportunity

The company sees an opportunity in the need for processing technology as well as the imbalance between price and quality when it comes to hemp textiles, said Shreyans Kokra, who co-founded the company with Shah when the two were classmates at Babson College in the USA.

The post U.S. jumps to No. 3 among top hemp growing nations was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

The USA has jumped into the top ranks of global hemp growing nations, recording a tripling of land under hemp to reach a total 78,176 acres (about 31,000 hectares) in 2018, according to the American hemp advocacy group Vote Hemp. Vote Hemp had recorded about 25,000 acres of hemp fields across the USA in 2017. Twenty-three states grew hemp in 2018, Vote Hemp said.

Globally, that puts the USA third, behind world leader China (400,000 acres/162,000 ha.) and northern neighbor Canada (100,000 acres/40,000 ha), and is nearly double the land sown for hemp in France (42,000 acres/17,000 ha.), Europe’s leading hemp grower. Only about 110,000 acres (44,000 ha.) of hemp were grown across all of Europe in 2017, the year for which the most recent figures are available.

Montana expands fast

The rapid expansion of hemp fields in the USA last year was driven primarily by anticipated passage of the U.S. Farm Bill, which removed hemp from the U.S. narcotics list. The Bill became law in late December. Strong demand for CBD was a major contributing factor in the growth of U.S. fields.

Internally in the U.S., Montana recorded the most fields under hemp last year with 22,000 acres (about 9,000 ha.), a drastic increase over the 542 acres (219 ha.) sown in 2017. Montana eclipsed perennial hemp leader Colorado, which was the second biggest grower in the USA last year with 21,578 acres (8,700 ha.), Vote Hemp reported.

It’s usually assumed that Canadian licensed cannabis producers have an advantage when it comes to international expansion, but the United States may have an edge over Canada in one country: Brazil. The South American country has seen steady growth in patient numbers over the past year, with the majority of CBD products arriving from the […]

US cannabis companies have advantage for CBD exports to Brazil is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

From Colombia to Italy, international cannabis firms are attracting investments from Canadian companies looking to further develop their international footprints.

Weekly Deal Watch: International, adult-use markets attract marijuana money is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Mechoulam joins GW to advance CBD research was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

CBD producer GW Pharmaceuticals plc said it has set up a research collaboration with renowned Prof. Raphael Mechoulam of Israel’s Hebrew University of Jerusalem to research the pharmacology of phytocannabinoids and the cannabinoid system in humans.

Under the agreement with Yissum, a university-owned research development company, GW has acquired the rights to a number of cannabinoid patents invented by Mechoulam.

CBD patents

“The company will be working closely with him and his team for the next three years to develop these new opportunities in furtherance of its scientific and commercial activities,” GW said in a recent release. The patents include those relating to CBD and endocannabinoids (cannabinoids found in the human body).

Mechoulam also will act as a consultant on GW’s research into synthetic cannabinoids, the company said, becoming a member of the Cannabinoid Research Institute (CRI), which the company launched last year.

Marijuana Business Daily has launched its seventh annual survey of cannabis industry executives and investors, an undertaking that’s intended to help the Colorado-based company provide key market, financial and operational data for businesses and entrepreneurs. Owners, founders and executives with dispensaries/retail stores, commercial cultivation operations, infused product manufacturers, vertically integrated businesses, testing labs and ancillary firms, […]

MJBizDaily launches annual cannabis industry survey to collect key business data is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Asian Hemp Summit finds a continent rising fast was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Asia is well positioned to embrace hemp in an innovative and unique way, with stakeholders only beginning to capitalize on the rich genetic diversity of the hemp plant across the continent.

That was the key finding from the first-ever Asian Hemp Summit held earlier this month in Kathmandu, Nepal as more than 100 stakeholders from 25 countries across the globe convened to survey opportunities in Asia’s potential powerhouse hemp nations.

And innovation is happening in both big and small enterprises – among new-era stakeholders ranging from giant industrial consortia in China to nascent startups in India and beyond.

Ongoing discovery

Many valuable traits, such as improved yields, improved fiber quality, improved seed oil/protein content, disease resistance and attractive cannabinoid profiles are already being discovered within Asian hemp populations.

The post Rome workshop will look at cannabis industry standards was originally published on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

The group aims to meet the needs of the legal cannabis industry by addressing quality and safetyASTM International will hold a workshop Feb. 18-19 in Rome under its technical committee D37 on Cannabis, which is working to develop standards for cannabis products and processes.

The group aims to meet the needs of the legal cannabis industry by addressing quality and safety through the development of classifications, specifications, test methods, practices, and guides for cultivation, manufacturing, quality assurance, laboratory considerations, packaging, and security.

ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards developing organizations in the world. The not-for-profit group provides a forum for the development and publication of international voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services. ASTM’s volunteer members represent producers, consumers, government, and academia from more than 140 countries who develop technical documents that are the basis for manufacturing, management, procurement, codes and regulations for dozens of industry sectors.

Advancement through standardization

The objective of D37’s Workshop on Advancing the Field of Cannabis/hemp through Standardization, to be held at the Rome Marriot Park Hotel, will explore creation of new industry standards. International liaisons responsible for updating the D37 on developments in their regions will also be appointed during the workshop.