News

USDA Interim Final Rule

According to the USDA U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program website:

"The 2018 Farm Bill (pdf) directed USDA to establish a national regulatory framework for hemp production in the United States. USDA established the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program through an interim final rule. This rule outlines provisions for the USDA to approve plans submitted by States and Indian Tribes for the domestic production of hemp. It also establishes a Federal plan for producers in States or territories of Indian tribes that do not have their own USDA-approved plan."
Click here to read the Interim Final Rule. Comments close December 31, 2019.

We’ve been listening to and participating in conversations with the hemp industry at large regarding the USDA's final interim rule. There are two main areas of concern regarding this rule.

1. The legal THC limit remains low at 0.3% - This is an area of concern for both growers and processors, especially since the hemp biomass and crude CBD oil is not being defined, to the best of our understanding, as a "final product." Unfortunately, USDA regulators have no authority over this law. So, we anticipate that the 0.3% THC limit to be around for a while.
2. Using Hemp for animal feed remains illegal - Though using hemp as animal feed is already legal in Canada, it has not yet been approved in the US. It will probably take multiple research studies before this use for hemp is legalized in the US.

We'll be following both of the issues diligently as well as submitting our own comments on this rule.

Prairie Products is thrilled to have presented at and sponsored the Northern Hemp Summit that took place in Bismarck, ND on November 19-20, 2019.

The Summit was organized by David Ripplinger, the Assistant Professor in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University and the state’s bioenergy and bioproducts economist and brought together together agriculture, industry and government leaders as well as regional and national experts who are building the hemp industry in the Northern U.S. . This conference was incredibly informative and ripe with connections. There were a number of interesting presentations covering the history of hemp to hemp for fiber and food to hemp for CBD to retail brands. Areas represented included hemp production, processing, marketing, and regulation.
Please click here and here for more information.

We’re thrilled to announce that on May 14th, 2019, we became the first hemp processor licensed in the state of North Dakota.

This is an exciting new field for us and we’re looking forward to helping our state diversify its offerings and services and to participating in the growth and development of the local hemp and CBD oil industry.