HempTalk - Business Blogs and Press Releases

The post Goal to make Kentucky ‘epicenter’ of U.S. Hemp, state official says appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Local agriculture officials in Kentucky, USA say the state is well-positioned to be a national leader in hemp farming and production after enactment of the U.S. 2018 Farm Bill Thursday.

“We are eager to take the next step toward solidifying Kentucky’s position as the epicenter of industrial hemp production and processing in the United States,” the state’s Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said after submitting Kentucky’s hemp plan to federal officials at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

First state to submit rules

Kentucky was the first state to put its regulatory framework before the USDA following passage and signing of the Farm Bill. The legislation removed industrial hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act, giving hemp growers access to USDA programs such as crop insurance.

The post Editor’s guide to hemp provisions in the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Enactment of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, signed into law by President Donald Trump today, marks the beginning of tectonic shifts in the global market for industrial hemp. Here’s a selection of resources that summarize the latest developments and offer some insight into what it all means for the industry going forward. – ed.

What does the Farm Bill do?
Summary: Two-page analysis of hemp provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill,  indexed with citations relevant to industrial hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill (807p).
Source: U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a coalition of more than 60 hemp companies and major national grassroots organizations.

– – –

Outlook for CBD under the U.S. Farm Bill
Summary: Overview analysis with chart of Top 5 Hemp-derived CBD companies
Highlight: “The Farm Bill would help to create a more ‘laissez-faire’ open market that would enable more market entrants, operating under softer federal regulation.”
Source: SmallCaps Australia, analysts who cover penny stocks companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in the mining, resources, biotech, pharmaceutical, technology, and oil & gas sectors.

The post Polish institute grants U.S. firm exclusive rights for new seed appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Poland’s government-owned Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants (IWNiRZ) has granted an American company exclusive rights to license and distribute Henola, a newly developed hemp seed.

Henola joins several hemp varieties licensed through IWNiRZ to International Hemp Solutions (IHS), Denver, Colorado. IHS already has exclusive licensing and distribution agreements with the Polish institute across North America, Latin America and Australia depending on the variety, the company said.

What’s the yield?

IHS claimed in a press release that Henola can produce up to 3,600 pounds of grain per acre, “more than double that of traditional hemp varieties.”

That’s half of what the Institute said the seed would give up when it announced the Henola breakthrough in May 2017. At that time, IWNiRZ said the new variety had potential to produce four times more seed yield for edible oil than typical hemp plants.

The post Early signups have reps from 17 countries headed to Asian Hemp Summit appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Delegates from 19 countries around the globe are already signed up for the first-ever Asian Hemp Summit to be held Feb. 1-2, 2019 at the Gokarna Forest Resort in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Summit will unite stakeholders, politicians, development agencies, researchers, environmental groups, retailers, and private hemp enthusiasts to explore the ever-expanding potential of Asian nations in hemp production as well as the vast consumer markets on the continent.

Delegates who’ve registered early represent Australia, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Canada, Germany, Haiti, India, Ireland, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, South Africa and the United States.

Speakers positions available

A roster of international hemp industry leaders will give presentations on a wide range of topics during the Summit — from cultivation to food, hemp construction, cosmetics, textiles, CBD and more.

Several major hurdles undermining hemp cultivators’ ability to run successful, profitable businesses are set to crumble once President Donald Trump signs the 2018 Farm Bill. Challenges such as finding processors or accessing banking services – problems attributable to the patchwork of state laws and regulations that have so far underpinned the industry – will be […]

Chart: 2018 Farm Bill addresses major pain points for hemp industry is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post Austria moves to tighten regulations governing CBD products appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Austrian Minister For Social Affairs Beate Hartinger-Klein has announced the government’s intention to review the current status of CBD products in the country. While plans don’t include the banning of sale stricter regulations could be placed on a number of goods.

Smoking products will not be banned but are likely to be subject to laws to prevent youth usage. Like e-cigarettes, these products will be for over-18’s and come with warnings. The shipping and postage of smoking products will also be restricted. Plans to make smokeable CBD products available in specialist shops which were mooted by the industry have been rejected by the Austrian Minister for Finance.

Foods are affected

It’s also been confirmed that CBD foods and drinks will need approval from the EU due to the ‘novel food’ status of CBD. This means a number of products in Austria will have to immediately come off the shelves including a popular brownie stocked in the Aida confectionery chain. Likewise, CBD cosmetics will also be taken off shelves under the new regulations.

Austria, like many European countries has a booming CBD market. A variety of smokables, edibles, sprays, tinctures, cosmetics and other items have emerged in recent years. These products are found everywhere in supermarket chains like Lidl, pharmacies, confectionery shops and even a vending machine located on Mariahilfer Street in Vienna.

The post U.S. Farm Bill emerges from Congress with hemp provision intact appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

U.S. lawmakers have reached an agreement on the 2018 federal Farm Bill, leaving intact a provision that will let American farmers grow, process and sell hemp – removing restrictions that have held back the industry in the USA.

Lawmakers in both houses of the U.S. Congress are expected to vote in favor of the measure and send the full bill to President Donald Trump for signing this week.

Bi-partisan issue

The hemp provision got unusual bi-partisan support in the Congress mainly because of farm state legislators’ goal to bolster the fortunes of their farming constituencies.

It essentially categorizes hemp as an agricultural commodity and removes it from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of schedule 1 drugs. Passage is expected to significantly boost CBD sales and advance other hemp sub-sectors

The post Punishment of Czech hemp farmer over THC level angers activists appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

A Czech hemp farmer has been given 2 years probation in lieu of being sentenced to 15 months for possessing hemp above the legal THC limit. The legal case, which wrapped up last month, dragged on for almost two and a half years and has left many in the Czech hemp community frustrated and angry at the outcome.

In 2016, Leopold Svatý, an industry veteran with two decades of experience, was attending the first-ever Konopex trade fair in Ostrava. Shortly after the event commenced local policemen arrived and told participants to hide any flowers they had on display. Svatý was found to be in possession of four kilograms of hemp which was immediately taken from him despite having the relevant certificates confirming its legality.

On-site testing questioned

On-site testing confirmed the presence of THC (as it would in any hemp flower) but not the amount found, which was later called into dispute by Svatý. The hemp was subsequently sent for testing in a laboratory which showed levels of 0.6%, which is 0.3% over the legal limit. Concerns over the methodology used in the laboratory to test the hemp have been raised with some fearing the correct standards weren’t followed.

Lawyers for Svatý claimed a number of his rights had been infringed during the course of proceedings. They filed a number of complaints against the police, including on the conduct of their searches at the fair and questioning the authorization of the seizure being confirmed by telephone. However, his complaints were rejected. Meanwhile, lawyers for the state countered that Svatý was using the hemp for narcotic purposes.

The post ‘Manx Hemp Campaign’ hopes to return crop to Isle of Man appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Activist Pippa Clare Byrne is clarifying a bit of history on Isle of Man while launching the “Manx Hemp Campaign,” an effort to reintroduce hemp cultivation to the island, situated in the Irish Sea between Ireland and England.

While some officials told her hemp was never grown on the Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency, Byrne believes there is evidence to the contrary found in local literature, including a reference in “The Dictionary of Manx Place Names.”

What’s in a name

Manx is a term used to describe the people of the Isle of Man collectively and is also the name of the Celtic language once spoken on the island.

“The Island’s fishing community was dependent on the production of hemp as it was the essential material for weaving nets and making sails,” Byrne said. She believes hemp was also used for clothing, roofing, and other applications on the island down through its rich and unique history.

The post Hemp advocates in Guyana push government for legalization appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

The Guyanese government should eliminate legislative barriers that are preventing farmers and processors from creating a vibrant new industry for the South American coastal nation, said Michael Kirton, co-chairman at Guyana Hemp Industries (GHI) a lobbying group.

Hemp could not only provide economic growth but “provide a better life for the men, women and children of our nation,” Kirton said in advance of a “hemp liberation day” organized by GHI this past Saturday.

Lobbying & education

Saturday’s event was part of a broader lobbying and education effort by GHI, which is also hosting meetings across Guyana to educate the public about the economic potential for industrial hemp. Kirton said GHI has established 25 local hemp lobby groups in Guyana and counts 100 hemp advocates among its ranks.

The group also has requested permission from the Guyanese government to conduct hemp trials on a total of 100 acres in various regions of the country, Kirton said.

The post WHO committee delays review on global status of cannabis appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

A World Health Organization (WHO) Committee has delayed until January its review of the global legal status of cannabis, which was expected to be delivered during a meeting last week in Vienna.

The WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) said it needs until January to sort out volumes of input it received ahead of the review’s release.

Highly anticipated

The highly anticipated review is one of the final steps in the process of determining whether cannabis will continue to be in the most restrictive international drug classification. A recommendation on such rescheduling is expected at a meeting of the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) set for March 2019 that will take the WHO review into consideration.

A UN CND recommendation for cannabis to be removed from international control would impact national reform efforts around the world.

The post Hemp ‘compromise’ in U.S. Farm bill: Create 2 classes of felons appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Negotiations to eliminate a proposed rule that would ban drug felons from joining in the industrial hemp boom are reported to have moved off center, but latest proposals arising out of U.S. Farm Bill negotiations would still force those with federal drug convictions to sit on the sidelines for a decade.

In what critics will no doubt see as a tepid move, a “compromise” is reported to have emerged that would let such felons grow hemp beginning 10 years after their convictions, McClatchy reported.

Grandfathered into hemp

Oddly, negotiators have also apparently agreed that felons already growing hemp under an earlier Farm Bill (2014) would be allowed to continue, thus creating two classes of felons for the American hemp industry.

Congressional negotiations over the long-awaited 2018 Farm Bill – key to cracking wide the American hemp markets – are expected to result in final legislation next week.

The post Outlook: Taking stock of hemp a decade after the financial crash appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

By Steve Allin | International Hemp Building Association – The materials we obtain from the hemp plant can help us get back to basics but how about the basics of hemp? The original aspects of hemp are promoted as being able to provide great improvements to our environment, our quality of life and essentials such as food, clothing and shelter.

As we pass the 10-year commemoration of the Great Crash of 2008, it is time to take stock of where we now find ourselves from a society and community perspective. Many media outlets have been reviewing the situation as we pass the decade mark since first Lehman Bros. and then the rest of the financial world very nearly completely collapsed. What is often forgotten is how we managed to avoid a complete disaster. Some people will remember terms such as “quantitive easing” or “debt restructuring” being banded about at the time, and up until recently you might be forgiven for thinking that these seeming solutions worked at least partly to fix things.

The reality, unfortunately, is far from that. In fact, the underlying picture is getting far worse. The main reason for that is that all the money created and put into the global economy was in reality debt, and debt has not only to be paid back but paid back with interest; and here is the problem.

The post Blocking of hemp as animal feed angers farmers in New Zealand appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Hemp farmers in New Zealand have reacted angrily to the news they are unable to use hemp as an animal feed. The news has come as a shock to the industry which has seen a number of positive changes in recent months.

A document released by the Ministry for Primary Industries informed farmers that feeding hemp to any animal is in breach of the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act. The message contradicts documents the Ministry released previously, including one in 2004, which said feeding hemp to animals was permissible.

Restricted by 2 Acts

As hemp contains cannabinoids it comes under New Zealand’s Medicines Act and the Misuse of Drugs Act. Officials are concerned that cannabinoids from the plant could transfer to meat and milk if animals are fed hemp. The head of New Zealand Food Safety, Bryan Wilson told media “MPI’s position on the use of hemp in animal feed is in line with other countries.”

Tom Welch, a dairy farmer, planned to feed hemp to his cows until he was informed it’s illegal to do so. “These constant roadblocks by government are killing our industry’s future. We need government to help, not hinder, for hemp to flourish to its economic and ecological potential.” Welch told local media.

The post Ex-doctor found innocent in Australian cannabis treatment case appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

An ex-doctor in Australia has sucessfully defended himself in a landmark medical cannabis trial, arguing that his unauthorized treatments with cannabis compounds were of “medical necessity” to the patients he served.

Andrew Katelaris, who lost his medical license in 2005 under a previous case in which he prescribed cannabis in Australia, was acquitted last week after choosing to defend himself in the case before a jury.

Gripping testimony of parents

“The evidence from the parents of epileptic children was just too overwhelming” for the jury to convict him, Katelaris told the UK’s Daily Mail after he was found not guilty at the end of the four-week trial.

Katelaris, who called the parents of sick children as well as medical experts to give testimony, was charged after his May 2017 arrest following a police raid on his Sydney home during which authorities found 8 kg of cannabis oil, 10 kg of cannabis leaf, and $10,000 cash.

Iowa's five CBD dispensaries open for business Saturday to serve roughly 1,000 patients in one of the nation's most limited medical cannabis markets.

Iowa medical CBD sales set to begin Saturday under cloud of confusion is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

The post U.S. lawmakers ‘close’ to consensus on bill that would free hemp appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

Lawmakers in the United States say they are close to reaching a consensus on the U.S. Farm Bill, Reuters reported. The measure is eagerly anticipated by hemp stakeholders who see it as the gateway to a full-fledged hemp industry in the USA.

The bill is expected to include language that will categorize hemp as an agricultural commodity and remove it from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of schedule 1 drugs. Passage is expected to significantly boost CBD sales and advance other hemp sub-sectors

The U.S. Farm Bill would fund a total $867 billion in food and agriculture programs. Lawmakers have not offered details of what the Washington Post termed an “emerging compromise.” One Senator, Republican Pat Roberts of Kansas, said word of any “complete agreement” is “premature.”

The post With pre-fab hempcrete house, Dun Agro sets another milestone appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

By Brian Houlinan | HempToday – Legacy European hemp firm Dun Agro will mark another industry milestone tomorrow (Nov. 30) at a ceremony celebrating completion of a pre-fabricated hempcrete house.

“This is the first hemp building that is completely built in this new prefab technique,” said Albert Dun, founder at Dun Agro, Netherlands, which put up several smaller demo structures during development of its HempCal modular building system.

Walls and roof elements for the two-story house were formed in Dun Agro’s facility in Oude Pekela, in northern Holland, and demonstrate the feasibility of building with hemp on a large scale, Dun said.

Moving hemp mainstream

“For me, it was important to create a process that makes hemp building accessible to the regular building industry,” said Dun, who has visited many hemp building projects around the world, most of which he noticed are private and small-scale.

The post Italy tells EU it will set maximum THC levels for hemp foods appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

The Italian Ministry of Health has informed the European Commission (EC) of its plans to set maximum levels of THC in food and food supplements. The regulation is aimed at providing clarity to authorities and the food sector.

In a letter sent to the EC in October, the Italian government outlined its intentions and their rationale for the move. The Italian government notes that they sought the advice of a number of bodies including the Italian National Institute of Health in May 2017 before proceeding. They also outline their intent to sample and analyze products for THC levels as per European Union guidelines.

Clarity on food

The regulation proposed by Italy provides clarification for the authorities and the food sector on which foodstuffs derived from hemp can be produced and placed on the market. It also provides instructions for authorities and the food sector on the application of regulations on food hygiene and official inspections. It also

It’s proposed the maximum THC levels would be as follows: Hemp seeds and flour obtained from hemp seed should have a maximum of 2.0 milligrams per kilogram. Likewise, supplements containing foodstuffs derived from hemp would also have a maximum of 2.0 milligrams per kilogram. Oils obtained from hemp seeds can have a maximum of 5.0 milligrams per kilogram.

The post Second study of European CBD products reveals deficiencies appeared first on HempToday. Subscribe to our newsletter, check out our events and follow us on facebook, instagram and twitter.

A recent round of tests among CBD products on the European market uncovered several deficiencies, according to the International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute (ICCI), which recently performed the second such independent sampling this year.

ICCI performed the assessment of 35 products under ISO 17025 standards in cooperation with the first European laboratory certified under the Patient Focused Care (PFC) regime, administered by the Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition of the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague. (VŠCHT).

THC risk levels

ICCI said 9 samples in the latest round of testing had THC levels “involving risk,” while only 10 samples reviewed had correct labels on their packaging regarding THC content. Thirty samples fulfilled requirements concerning CBD content, according to ICCI.

Excessive THC content in the blood after using CBD oils represents unexpected risks for customers, said Pavel Kubů, ICCI managing director. Even relatively low amounts of THC can cause changes in perception, and can threaten consumers’ capacity to drive and make decisions in general, ICCI noted.