Hemp industry leaders had their first meeting with representatives of the new Biden administration's U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) last week to discuss issues impacting the industry.
During the meeting, National Industrial Hemp Council board
chair Patrick Atagi briefed the Acting Agriculture Secretary Kevin Shea on the following issues:
- Product certification and laboratory certification for hemp;
- Delayed enforcement and corrections to specified provisions of the AMS rule on hemp;
- Development of hemp checkoff program;
- Trade protocols, standards and capacity-building for resin, nutritional and fiber hemp;
- Increased R&D to identify competitive resin, nutritional and fiber uses;
- Funding for export supply chain development;
- Encourage FDA guidance on CBD;
- Establishment of a Federal Advisory Committee (FACA) to advise Secretary on hemp issues.