WASHINGTON, DC — Vote Hemp, the nation’s leading grassroots hemp advocacy organization working to change state and federal laws to allow commercial hemp farming, has released its 2017 U.S. Hemp Crop Report. The report documents state-by-state progress of hemp legislation passed in 2017, reported acreage of hemp grown, identifies states with active hemp pilot farming programs and advocacy work the organization has lead over the past year. To view the complete Vote Hemp 2017 States Report, please visit: 2017 Vote Hemp Crop Report

“We’ve seen hemp cultivation significantly expand in the U.S. in 2017, with over double the number of acres planted in hemp compared to last year and the addition of 4 more states with hemp pilot programs,” said Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. “The majority of states have implemented hemp farming laws, in clear support of this crop and its role in diversifying and making more sustainable our agricultural economy. It’s imperative that we pass the Industrial Hemp Farming Act in Congress, so that we can grant farmers full federally legal rights to commercially cultivate hemp to supply the growing global market for hemp products.”

Since the passage of Section 7606 of the Farm Bill, “Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research,” hemp cultivation in the U.S. has grown rapidly. The number of acres of hemp grown across 19 states totaled 23,343 in 2017, more than double the number of acres from the previous year. State licenses to cultivate hemp were issued to 1,424 farmers; and 32 universities conducted research on the crop. Despite this progress, hemp farmers face logistical and legislative hurdles that yet hinder the full scale commercial cultivation of hemp to supply American consumers: farmers rely on imported certified hemp seed from countries such as Canada and Italy; the DEA has obstructed interstate commerce of U.S. grown and manufactured hempseed oil and protein powder. And though H.R. 3530 The Industrial Hemp Farming Act has been introduced in Congress, farming of the crop remains prohibited at the federal level.

Among the fastest-growing categories in the natural foods industry, hemp seed is a rich source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids (EFAs), providing both SDA and GLA, highly-digestible protein, and naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin E and iron. An excellent source of dietary fiber, hemp seed is also a complete protein—meaning it contains all ten essential amino acids, with no enzyme inhibitors, making it more digestible by the human body. Advancements in hemp research and manufacturing demonstrate the remarkable versatility and product-potential for hemp. Hemp bast fiber has shown promising potential to replace graphene in supercapacitor batteries, which could then be used to power electric cars and handheld electric devices and tools. Hemp fiber can also be used to create environmentally friendly composites, and hard bio-plastics for use in everything from airplanes to car parts. Hemp houses are also on the rise, as hempcrete, which is energy-efficient, non-toxic, resistant to mold, insects and fire, has many advantages to synthetic building materials, lumber and concrete.

To date, thirty-three states have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production. These states are able to take immediate advantage of the industrial hemp research and pilot program provision, Section 7606 of the Farm Bill: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

# # #

Vote Hemp is a national non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow hemp commercially. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Vote Hemp, the nation’s leading grassroots hemp advocacy organization working to change state and federal laws to allow commercial hemp farming, has successfully worked with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to secure the inclusion of a pro-hemp farming position in the conference’s permanent agriculture policy. Passed on August 7, 2017, the new directive on hemp farming legislation asserts NCSL support for both federal and state regulations for industrial hemp cultivation in the U.S., and is the result of several years of Vote Hemp’s advocacy on the issue. Specifically, the new NCSL policy directive reads:

“NCSL Supports federal legislation to define industrial hemp as a distinct agricultural crop (1 percent% or less THC content) and allow states to regulate commercial hemp farming. Currently 33 states have laws allowing hemp research or farming. NCSL believes that hemp has a long history as a sustainable and a profitable crop, and has great potential as a new crop for American agriculture and industry. According to Vote Hemp, an estimated $687 million worth of hemp products were sold in the U.S. in 2016, including foods, body care products, clothing, auto parts, building materials, and paper. Most of these products were made from imported hemp due to federal policy that prohibits commercial hemp farming. NCSL believes that federal policies that obstruct industrial hemp farming are outdated and must be changed.”

Passed by a unanimous vote among NCSL members, this inclusion of hemp farming support in the organization’s agriculture policy marks an important shift among states toward lifting prohibition on the crop, and implementing regulations for its commercial cultivation at the state level. Vote Hemp would like to expressly thank Hawaii State Representative Cynthia Thielen, and Hawaii State Senator Mike Gabbard, who helped draft the language of the directive and secure support for its passage; as well as Maryland State Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo, who presented the resolution to the NCSL Agriculture Policy Committee, and was key to its unanimous ratification.

“We are grateful to the National Conference of State Legislatures for their unequivocal support for hemp farming legislation,” said Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. “The unanimous inclusion of this directive in their agriculture policy demonstrates that NCSL understands the need for legislative reform to legalize hemp farming, and recognizes its potential as a sustainable and profitable crop for American farmers,” Steenstra continued.

This strong demonstration of NCSL support for hemp farming legalization at the state and federal levels occurs at a propitious time, as the Industrial Hemp Farming Act H.R. 3530 was just recently introduced in Congress July 28, 2017, and is well poised to lift prohibition on hemp farming in the United States in the 115th Congress.  According to Vote Hemp, an estimated $687 million worth of hemp products were sold in the U.S. in 2016, including foods, body care products, clothing, auto parts, building materials, and paper. Most of these products were made from imported hemp due to federal policy that prohibits commercial hemp farming.

To date, thirty-three states have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production. These states are able to take immediate advantage of the industrial hemp research and pilot program provision, Section 7606 of the Farm Bill: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

#   #   #

Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow American farmers to once again grow the agricultural crop. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com. Video footage of hemp farming is available upon request by contacting Lauren Stansbury at 402-540-1208 or lauren@votehemp.com.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Vote Hemp, the nation’s leading grassroots hemp advocacy organization working to change state and federal laws to allow commercial hemp farming, supports the introduction of the Congressional bill H.R. 3530, The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017, on July 27, 2017. If passed, The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017 would remove federal restrictions on the cultivation of industrial hemp, the non-drug oilseed and fiber variety of Cannabis. The full text of the bill may be found at:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3530.

H.R. 3530 is remarkably different than previous iterations of Congressional bills that sought to lift federal prohibition on hemp farming. The bill allows for commercial cultivation of industrial hemp that has a THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content of no more than 0.3 percent by dry weight, consistent with the definition of industrial hemp provided in Sec. 7606 of the Farm Bill. Yet, additionally, H.R. 3530 would allow for research cultivation on industrial hemp crops with a THC content of up to 0.6 percent by dry weight. Furthermore, per Vote Hemp advocacy on the issue, H.R. 3530 expands federally legal commercial hemp cultivation to tribal lands, reservations and U.S. territories—lands that had previously been omitted in Sec. 7606 of the Farm Bill, which allowed only for hemp farming programs in ‘States.’

However, despite these worthy additions to the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, H.R. 3530 contains provisions that Vote Hemp asserts will severely hamper the growth of the hemp industry in the U.S. Specifically, H.R. 3530 allows for the Drug Enforcement Administration to conduct “administrative inspections” of hemp farms and locations where there is “production, storage, distribution or use” of industrial hemp. This overly broad language perpetuates the misclassification of industrial hemp as a drug, rather than an agricultural commodity, and fails to allow states to regulate the crop.

Vote Hemp also objects to a provision in H.R. 3530 that, if passed, would harm the nascent CBD product manufacturing industry and market in the U.S., annual retail sales of which were estimated at $130 million in 2016, constituting 19% of the U.S. hemp market.  Finally, H.R. 3530 fails to amend the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, thereby allowing the Food and Drug Administration to continue its regulatory oversight of CBD products as a controlled substance drug, rather than as a dietary supplement.

The bill neither makes mention of restricting hemp cultivation or commercial production of U.S. grown hemp regarding the presence of other cannabinoids in the hemp plant nor does it restrict the definition of hemp according to specific botanical parts of the hemp plant.

“It’s imperative that members of Congress understand and recognize industrial hemp as an historic, versatile and lucrative crop for farmers,” said Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. “Hemp is in no way a drug form of cannabis, CBD from hemp is not listed under the Controlled Substances Act, and it should be regulated as such. Vote Hemp is committed to working with House and Senate members to amend the bill, so that these harmful provisions are corrected or removed.”

Championed by a broad bi-partisan coalition of 15 co-sponsors, and introduced by freshman Representative James Comer (R-KY), H.R. 3530 is strongly poised to reach a floor vote in the 115th Congress. Vote Hemp anticipates a complementary bill to be introduced in the Senate in the near future.

In supplemental affirmation of Congressional support for the return of commercial hemp farming to the American agrarian landscape, Senator Michael F. Bennet (D-CO), introduced S. 1576, on July 18, 2017, which would ensure that farmers of industrial hemp crops would have equal access to water rights as those farmers growing other agricultural crops. A necessary measure to ensure the success of hemp crops around the country, this bill was introduced in response to the Bureau of Reclamation’s recent efforts to deny water rights to a number of hemp farmers in Montana, Colorado and Oregon.

To date, thirty-three states have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production. These states are able to take immediate advantage of the industrial hemp research and pilot program provision, Section 7606 of the Farm Bill: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

#   #   #

Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow the agricultural crop. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com. Video footage of hemp farming in other countries is available upon request by contacting Lauren Stansbury at 402-540-1208 or lauren@votehemp.com.

Hemp Food, Body Care, CBD and Supplements Retail Market in U.S. Achieves 25% Growth in 2016

WASHINGTON, DC – Vote Hemp, the nation’s leading grassroots hemp advocacy organization working to change state and federal laws to allow commercial hemp farming, has released final estimates of the size of the 2016 U.S. retail market for hemp products.  Data from market research supports an estimate of total retail sales of hemp food, supplements and body care products in the United States at $292 million.  Sales of popular hemp items like non-dairy milk, shelled seed, soaps and lotions have continued to increase, complemented by successful hemp cultivation pilot programs in several states, and increasing grassroots pressure to allow hemp to be grown domestically on a commercial scale once again for U.S. processors and manufacturers.  Vote Hemp and Hemp Business Journal have also reviewed sales of clothing, auto parts, building materials and various other products, and estimates the total retail value of hemp products sold in the U.S. in 2016 to be at least $688 million.

Of this $688 million hemp market, Vote Hemp and Hemp Business Journal estimate that hemp foods constituted 19% ($129.3 million); personal care products constituted 24% ($163 million); textiles constituted 14% ($99.5 million); supplements constituted 4% ($26 million); hemp derived cannabidiol or CBD products constituted 19% ($130 million); and hemp dietary supplements constituted 4% ($26 million); industrial applications such as car parts constituted 18% ($125.5 million); and other consumer products such as paper and construction materials accounted for the remaining 2% of the market.

The sales data on hemp foods and body care, collected by market research firm SPINS, was obtained from natural and conventional retailers, excluding Whole Foods Market, Costco, Alfalfa’s Market, and certain other key establishments, who do not provide sales data — and thus it significantly underestimates actual sales.  According to the SPINS data, combined 2016 sales of U.S. hemp food, body care, CBD products and dietary supplements grew in the sampled stores by 24.64% or approximately $23 million, over the previous year 2015, to a total of nearly $117 million.  According to SPINS figures, sales in conventional retailers grew by 36.54% in 2016, while sales in natural retailers grew by 11.64%. Indeed, the combined growth of hemp retail sales in the U.S. continues steadily: annual natural and conventional market percent growth has progressed from 7.3% (2011), to 16.5% (2012), to 24% (2013), 21.2% (2014), 10.4% (2015),
to nearly 25% in 2016.

“Vote Hemp estimates the total retail value of all hemp products sold in the U.S. to be at least $688 million for 2016,” said Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp.  “To date, 32 states have passed legislation that allows hemp farming per provisions set forth in the 2014 Farm Bill, and the U.S. remains the largest consumer market for hemp products worldwide. However misguided drug policy still prevents our farmers from cultivating hemp at the scale needed to meet consumer demand, so instead nearly all the hemp to supply the U.S. market is imported. We need Congress to pass federal legislation to allow commercial hemp farming nationally, to let our farmers and American business take advantage of the robust economic opportunity hemp provides,” continued Steenstra.

Data was gathered and analyzed in partnership with Hemp Business Journal, the leading provider of market intelligence to the hemp industry.  Sean Murphy, founder and publisher of Hemp Business Journal said, “The hemp industry is being lead by the Natural Products channel. Food and personal care categories have traditionally lead the industry and continued to do so in 2016. The emergence of Hemp CBD—a category growing at 53%—drove the hemp industry to a total market size of $688 million. Hemp Business Journal estimates $130 million in hemp industry sales is from the Hemp CBD category, nearly 20% of the total market.  This category is being driven by channel sales in the Natural Products Industry, smoke shops and online verticals, with pharmaceutical players quickly moving into position to capture market share.”

Vote Hemp has calculated that approximately 9,650 acres of hemp crops were planted in 15 states during 2016 in the U.S., 30 universities conducted research on hemp cultivation, and 817 State hemp licenses were issued across the country. This hemp cultivation is legal in 32 states, which have lifted restrictions on hemp farming and may license farmers to grow hemp in accordance with Sec. 7606 of the Farm Bill, the Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research amendment. To view the Vote Hemp 2016 Crop Report, which gives a state-by-state breakdown of hemp acreage grown in 2016, please visit:

• https://www.votehemp.com/lobbying/2017-Fly-In-States-Update.pdf

To date, thirty-two states have defined industrial hemp as distinct and removed barriers to its production. These states are able to take immediate advantage of the industrial hemp research and pilot program provision, Section 7606 of the Farm Bill: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

# # #

Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow the agricultural crop. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com or www.TheHIA.org. Video footage of hemp farming in other countries is available upon request by contacting Lauren Stansbury at 402-540-1208 or lauren@votehemp.com.