Those banking on the 2026 Farm Bill to change the course of federal policy surrounding intoxicating hemp products must now take their concerns to the Senate. The U.S. House voted, 224-200, on April 30 to pass the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (the 2026 Farm Bill), legislation that regularly addresses the nation's agriculture and food policies by, in part, funding programs used by farmers and rural communities. Congress is nearly eight years removed from when it passed the 2018 Farm Bill, which federally legalized the commercial hemp cultivation.
The House-passed 2026 Farm Bill would redefine hemp as a cannabis plant that does not test higher than 0.3% total THC (including THCA), rather than using the delta-9 THC threshold established in the 2018 Farm Bill that led to the boom in intoxicating hemp products, especially in states with strict cannabis laws.
While the federal government passed legislation to ban these products, specifically those containing more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per serving, or synthetic (delta-8 THC) or unnatural (HHC) cannabinoids, beginning on Nov. 12, 2026, industry stakeholders have advocated for lawmakers to use the 2026 Farm Bill as a vehicle to delay the ban or to restructure the forthcoming definition altogether.
While some argue the farm bill deals with hemp as an agricultural commodity, not a finished good, others argue that farmers are part of the supply chain and are impacted by the downstream definition, with many set to lose meaningful diversification in their crop portfolios.
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