Geoff Whaling, chair of the National Hemp Association, joins us on the Industrial Hemp Podcast this week to talk about NHA’s priorities for what they’d like to see in the 2023 Farm Bill.

Topping that list is the bifurcation, or division, of the hemp industry, Whaling said, with legislation that would create a sub-definition of industrial hemp grown for fiber and grain, making it easier for row crop farmers to add it to their current rotations of crops like corn, soy and wheat.

Currently, hemp farmers are subject to expensive permitting fees, FBI background checks and finger printing, and costly on-farm government testing of cannabinoid content in the field.

Whaling said these requirements are barriers to the industry that keep farmers from growing industrial hemp at a scale that can establish a robust domestic hemp industry, because farmers are being treated like criminals for wanting to grow a commodity crop that can be used for food, feed, fuel, fabric and more.

Whaling said NHA supports the CBD industry. “I don't want to negate the importance that cannabinoids have in this marketplace,” but it’s important for the two sides of the industry to be regulated differently.

Whaling said the industry faces difficult educational challenges with the public and, almost more importantly, with lawmakers.

“We would go into senators’ offices who were leaders in this space, and their staff did not know or believe that you could plant hemp as a row crop,” he said.

Last month, Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Mike Braun, R-Ind., introduced the 2023 Industrial Hemp Act, which would remove the barriers for farmers who want to grow hemp as commodity crop rather than a specialty crop, the way CBD hemp is grown.

If the bill does not pass as a stand-alone piece of legislation, Whaling is hopeful it will be added to the 2023 Farm Bill.

Another priority for NHA is hemp for animal feed.

“We get this question all the time, why is it okay for us to eat hemp hearts, we as humans, but it's not OK for us to give that to our dogs?” Whaling said.

“It's a good question. But the reality is the authority for all things that are consumed by us or consumed by animals that go into the human chain is left squarely with the FDA,” he said.

He said state governments are taking this into their own hands, passing various legislation allowing for hemp to be used in feed for domestic animals, but Whaling said this issue deserves to be solved at the federal level, rather than by a patchwork of state laws across the country.

“It most definitely is that patchwork approach,” he said. “And we know that it didn't work very well for cannabinoids. And I think that if we were able to move this forward on a national program, then all citizens would be able to participate.”

Whaling also spoke about the work NHA is doing around the world to develop the hemp industry and to help build the market for carbon credits.

While the industry has it’s challenges, Whaling remains hopeful as ever.

“Five years from now, we'll still be researching the potential of industrial hemp,” he said. “Ten years from now, we'll be well on our way to a multibillion dollar industry.

“And 20 years from now, when I'm long gone, hemp will be everywhere and people will be saying, what was the big deal?”

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