Finally, Idaho has become the 50th state to legalize hemp

Through Nicholas Rodriguez

Hemp, Inc., a leading global industrial hemp company, commended Idaho for becoming the 50th state to legalize hemp.

Thanks to House Bill #26, passed in the April 2021 Idaho legislature, with an emergency clause that made the law effective once it passed both houses, farmers are now receiving their hemp licenses so they can harvest legally during the process “Produce and handle” this growing season for commodities like insulation, paper, oil and food.”

Photo by Aphiwat Chuangchoem from Pexels

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The legalization of industrial hemp in Idaho gives its farmers the opportunity to diversify their operations, potentially creating more opportunities to do business with other companies in the industry.

Twenty years in the making

The Idaho Farm Bureau’s associate director for governmental affairs, Braden Jensen, said the bureau “has driven most of the policy change over the past 20 years, but the 2018 Federal Farm Bill, which removed hemp from the controlled substances list, did it.” the topic a priority in the 2021 legislative period.”

New licensing system

Idaho now has two licensing options for its farmers (dealers and growers). Licensed dealers are allowed to process raw hemp materials into other materials, but they cannot grow the crop. Licensed producers can grow and market the hemp crop. Both licenses require background checks that need to be renewed annually, and producers have their hemp batches tested for acceptable THC levels (below 0.3%).

If any sample from the batch is above this threshold, the entire harvest is either destroyed or mixed with another strain to lower the THC levels.

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The news source stated that as of November 2021, Idaho had approximately 60 applications and to date 8 have been fully approved (4 handlers, 3 producers, 1 handler/producer).

Exponential growth

The industrial hemp market is growing exponentially. A new report by Grand View Research, Inc. (October 2021) found that the global industrial hemp market is projected to reach 12.01 billion by 2028 and to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% from 2021 to 2028.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.