2018 Farm Bill Lifts Prohibition of Hemp for Industrial Purposes
We’ve come a long way in the past 20 years
For the first time since 1937, hemp is now legal in all 50 states in the USA. This past December the prohibition of hemp for industrial purposes was lifted as a part of the 2018 Farm Bill. This is a significant development in the hemp industry as it allows for American farmers to finally compete is a global market that has a tremendous demand for hemp-based products. From medicinal CBD to strong textile material, the cultivation of this versatile plant can be used to create thousands of consumer products.
This is the latest win for the US cannabis industry that has also seen the full legalization of cannabidiol hemp-based products in several states. However, previous to this bill the cultivation and transportation of hemp biomass for industrial purposes was stymied by federal laws that prohibited its transport across state lines. This prohibition was in force even between states where it was legal in both states and made it impossible for the US to compete with foreign competitors. Warehouse, distribution and extraction services are at the forefront of the industry.
With this new legislation taking the handcuffs off of farmers, processors, and distributors like kindXtractor, the projections show the global industrial CBD hemp industry growing to between 20 and 22 billion in annual profits by 2022. Strong trade between Latin America including Columbia and Uruguay is projected to rocket. The government was finally compelled to act because of a significant trade imbalance that led to the import of almost 100 million dollars of hemp biomass, isolate, distillate and crude every year. American farmers, distributers and manufactureing l companies will now be able to more effectively work with foreign businesses in this growing market.
The biggest challenge facing American cannabis farmers is scaling up their industrial and logistical capabilities in order to catch up to competition, including processing centers for CBD hemp biomass to create the medicinal products that are currently being largely supplied by foreign hemp producers. That are no other U.S. based extraction facilities on the scale of KindXtractor’s main facility in Colorado. Fortunately, there is a high amount of interest in the financial sector and investment firms in funding these ventures in order to see a return on investment similar to the “marijuana millionaires” that benefited from early entry into the medical marijuana industry.
