Socially disadvantaged farmers including those in the hemp industry are in line for new debt-relief funds in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021. The legislation, which passed in the U.S. Senate Saturday and awaits changes and a final vote in the House, directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make payments to Black
coronavirus
Hemp farmers getting federal pandemic assistance will see those payments frozen because of the changed administration. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that payments under the latest round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program are on hold “until further notice” — though interested farmers can continue applying through Feb. 26. The latest round of coronavirus
Some $13 billion in additional agricultural aid for pandemic-impacted farmers should start going out by end of month. Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey says the funds could go out even before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20. “We certainly have some things we would like to be able to get out very quickly,”
This session and other MJBizCon 2020 content is available on demand. Bethany Gomez Consumers are increasingly using hemp-CBD to help them through the coronavirus pandemic – and that could be in part due to heavy discounting from CBD brands. According to Bethany Gomez, managing director for Brightfield Group, a Chicago-based cannabis research and analytics firm,
In a year of a deadly pandemic and a historic presidential election, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that anxiety levels are sky high among American consumers. But the silver lining for the hemp and CBD industry is that at least 20% of consumers are using more CBD products as a direct result of COVID, according to
Hemp-derived CBD supplement maker Elixinol shed half of its global workforce and shuttered production lines in the first half of this year in response to market decline stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now the Australian company is looking to leverage a leaner operation and focus on its core CBD brands for future success. Talking
Journalists try Color Up’s CBD skincare products at a virtual launch event. (Photo courtesy of Debra Locker) Looking to educate and innovate without in-person events, hemp and marijuana companies are turning to virtual platforms for everything from trade conferences and product launches to consumer education and staff training. Spaces that facilitate an exchange of ideas,
Draft legislation that would allow Brazilian farmers to grow cannabis for medical and industrial purposes on domestic soil for the first time has been submitted to the country’s lower house of Congress. The bill was delivered to the House of Deputies speaker this week by lawmakers Paulo Teixeira and Luciano Ducci, co-sponsors of the bill
A California consumer products company has purchased a hemp and CBD producer headquartered in Grand Junction, Colorado. Kadenwood LLC, a privately held consumer-products company focused on amplifying CBD in the mainstream retail-wellness category, has acquired EcoGen Laboratories, a four-year-old company that manufactures and distributes CBD from hemp produced from its own proprietary genetics. The price
A Nevada hemp and marijuana breeder is looking for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, telling a federal court that COVID-19 shutdowns in Europe left the company unable to pay its debts. Pharmagreen Biotech in Carson City breeds cannabis clones – sometimes called liners, plantlets or young plants – for sale to growers in both the hemp
Corporate leaders in the CBD industry are increasingly coming from the consumer packaged goods universe, lending their experience and asking the hard questions to whip the nascent hemp industry into shape and navigate the enormous growth that entrepreneurs foresee in the market. Deanie Elsner joined Charlotte?s Web as CEO last year, bringing with her more
The listing economy has job-seekers flooding into the marijuana and hemp sectors looking for work. Savvy operators already in the industry are shifting roles to stay employed and get an edge on the competition. The smartest pivot right now? Moving from cultivation to a sales role, according to industry executives who shared hiring trends at
A Laotian agriculture company is taking an Australian hemp grower to arbitration after it withdrew from a joint CBD hemp project when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of borders around the world. Sun Agriculture Promotion Industry and Commercial Co. filed an arbitration claim for $6.1 million with the Centre of Economic Dispute Resolution in
Photo courtesy HempFlax This is the first of a two-part series on the prospects for hemp-derived construction materials in the post-Covid-19 era. Europe?s largest independent hemp grower and processor doubled down on the crop?s potential in the EU construction sector last month when it bought an insulation manufacturer in Germany and launched its own sustainable
Storefronts are re-opening and farms are commencing with planting season, and hemp and CBD and businesses continue to seek out loans and disaster relief money as economic recovery begins. Hemp industry members bristled at an announcement from federal agriculture officials in late May that money set aside for farmers wouldn?t be going to anyone growing
As hemp and CBD companies begin to reopen and get back to work with employees on site, there are many actions they can take to keep employees and customers safe. Jonathan Vaught, CEO and founder of plant breeder and young plant provider Front Range Biosciences in Fort Collins, Colorado, has kept operations moving since social-distancing
Since the beginning of March, federal food and drug regulators have issued warning letters to 64 companies for selling products under claims that they will prevent, treat, mitigate diagnose or cure COVID-19. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had sent eight of those letters to CBD companies, including: May 26: CBD Gaze, a
The U.N. body that decides drug policy has a plan for moving forward with a landmark vote in December on whether to revise the inclusion of cannabis and cannabis-related substances in two international narcotics conventions. The roadmap from the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) for holding the vote despite the global coronavirus pandemic was
Citing a precipitous downturn in hemp commodity prices, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable has written to federal agriculture authorities seeking a change to agency rules on getting coronavirus pandemic-related assistance. The lobbying group says that hemp is too new of a commodity to have widely published pricing data, making it problematic for hemp farmers to comply
When you have no idea where you?re going, your instinct is to look back. That?s why global upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic has everyone looking to the past for guidance. We search for clues in the Spanish flu pandemic of the 20th century?and the bubonic plague of the 14th century?hoping to draw lessons that protect our health now. Kristen
When COVID-19 spread and forced store closures, California-based Papa & Barkley lost about half of the 400 small CBD retail shops where the company was selling its products. Then online sales exploded. Adam Grossman ?We?ve seen a pretty dramatic increase in our online transaction volume,? said Adam Grossman, CEO and founder of Papa & Barkley.
Hemp farmers and businesses could get additional banking and financing help if the $3 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill introduced Tuesday by U.S. House Democrats becomes law. The SAFE Banking Act, which passed the House last September but has stalled in the Senate, is included in its entirety in the latest stiumulus proposal. A vote on
Farmers in Texas are showing great enthusiasm for producing hemp, with interest in growing flower and biomass for cannabinoid production and fiber to complement their cotton crops. That has Coleman Hemphill, president of the Texas Hemp Industries Association, a little worried. He told Hemp Industry Daily that he is encouraging farmers to go slow and
Hemp grain and food producers interested in tapping federal assistance have a new option for finding out how to apply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has scheduled a webinar for Thursday at 1 p.m. EDT for producers interested in applying for direct payments through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The program is part of a $19 billion
CBD maker GW Pharmaceuticals lost $8 million in its latest quarter ? an improvement over the previous three-month period ? but the United Kingdom-based medical cannabinoid company warned the COVID-19 pandemic could hit sales if fewer patients visit their doctors. Revenue in the quarter ending March 31 reached $120.6 million, up from $91 million and $109.1
Hemp Industry Daily hosted a webinar looking at ways CBD and hemp businesses can navigate the challenges of operating in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the free webinar, Hemp Industry Daily reporter Ivan Moreno talks with two executives with experience launching their own businesses. They offered guidance and tips on: Funding and Cash Flow: How to
What?s it like launching a company during a pandemic? The new blank-check company Collective Growth Corp. had two things working against it when it was slated to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on March 17 ? a global pandemic and the end of an 11-year bull market, said Bruce Linton, CEO and chairman. ?So
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, CV Sciences, a hemp CBD manufacturer based in San Diego, reported revenue of $8.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, down 45% from the same period a year ago. For the first three months of the 2020 fiscal year, sales were $8.2 million, down 45% from
If you?re a hemp farmer who is sitting on flower and biomass produced in 2019, you aren?t alone, says Casey Flippo, CEO of Little Rock, Arkansas-based hemp extraction firm Natvana LLC. Because the hemp market, which already had been seeing a shortage of processors and extraction facilities, is seeing more of these firms going offline
The CBD market has attracted plenty of entrepreneurs, despite the nascent industry?s wild ride so far. Running a business won?t always go smoothly, but you can learn how to navigate uncertain times, whether it?s COVID-19 or another unexpected calamity. The clock is ticking to register for Hemp Industry Daily?s live webcast, ?Starting a CBD Business During a Time