“The sky’s the limit at the moment,” said John Kran, national legislative counsel for the Michigan Farm Bureau.
“There’s a lot more questions than answers right now.”
Industrial hemp farming in Michigan is legal as a result of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, which voters passed in November 2018 as Proposal 1 to legalize cannabis.
The $867 billion Farm Bill passed by Congress also removes hemp for the list of federally controlled substances. The bill was signed by President Donald Trump on 12/20/18.
Hemp has been labeled as a controlled substance and federally illegal since 1970. Changing that designation allows farmers across the country to apply for the same kinds of insurance and financing assistance that they use to cover more traditional crops.
Attorney Josh Colton, a thought leader in the Michigan hemp industry and a founding member of the Michigan chapter of the Hemp Industries Association, stated that “with the passage of the new hemp laws vast new opportunities are becoming available to Michiganders. The Hemp Legal Group is excited to provide legal guidance and business consultations to those interested in researching, farming, processing, manufacturing, and distributing hemp and hemp derived products within the State of Michigan.”
A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the agency doesn’t have much information on how the industrial hemp program would work in the state.
“There is a lot of interest to grow hemp but there is not processing capacity in the state for hemp,” said Jennifer Holton, spokeswoman for MDARD. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”
Hemp is related to marijuana, but is genetically different and contains 0.3 percent THC or less. From plastics to toilet paper, industrial hemp can be used to manufacture a variety of products — and it also has therapeutic benefits.
CBD — cannabidiol — is a component in marijuana and hemp that does not produce the psychoactive effects of THC but can relieve stress, anxiety and pain. It’s one of the reasons interest is high in Michigan in hemp farming.
