Tag: CDA

Newsletter – July 16, 2020
Experience Counts: Colorado Hemp Industry Challenges CDA’s Selection of MJ Consultancy to Oversee State’s Hemp Center of Excellence

In the midst of a pandemic, economic uncertainty and the 2020 growing season for industrial hemp farmers, the Colorado hemp industry has united in protest to challenge the recent contract award to establish the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s (CDA) Hemp Center of Excellence (COE). This is the first time that the Colorado hemp industry and its leaders have come together to speak out against the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s decision to hire the Marijuana Policy Group (aka Marijuana Policy Group Consulting, Denver, CO) to actualize the Hemp Center of Excellence’s five year plan.

In a letter to Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, hemp industry leaders expressed concerns that the state’s hemp industry “will not accept any marijuana-related group contracted to management, planning, laying out a plan or facilitating stakeholders in the development and/or goals of the Hemp Center of Excellence.”

In addition, the state of Colorado’s hemp business community is demanding that “the CDA begin/restart the contract process again in accordance with all state laws, rules, and regulations. We request the CDA directly include the Colorado hemp industry’s involvement by setting up a hemp stakeholders committee to establish rules and parameters for the selection criteria, which would be open to the public for full transparency.”

State and national hemp industry leaders Tim Gordon, Morris Beegle and Veronica Carpio jointly said the issue is “not about creating a division of hemp and marijuana, but rather the concern of a fair process which includes hemp stakeholders, and immediate action by the CDA and Governor Polis.”

According to hemp industry stakeholders Tim Gordon, Morris Beegle, and Veronica Carpio, the issue surrounding the establishment of Colorado’s Hemp Center of Excellence is “not about creating a division of hemp and marijuana, but rather the concern of a fair process which includes hemp stakeholders, and immediate action by the CDA and Governor Polis.”

NEWS BRIEFS

Hemp CBD Sales Doubled Year Over Year Growth in 2019

By Natural Foods Merchandiser Market Overview 2020

Exhibitor, Sponsor Registration Now Open for NoCo7, March 25-27, 2021

By NoCo Hemp Expo

Federal DOT Reviews Hemp Legalization’s Impact on Truck Drivers

By U.S. Dept. of Transportation

Survey: 84% of U.S Consumers Believe CBD Can Replace Opioids

By AmericanMarijuana.org

HEADLINE NEWS

Call to Action: Vote Hemp Urges Community to Sign Petition Calling for Congress to Approve 1% THC Limit in Hemp

By Vote Hemp

U.S. Treasury FinCEN Guidelines Clarify Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions Regarding Hemp Businesses

By MG Retailer

Hemp Bill Leaves Some Cops Unable to Enforce Marijuana Laws in Georgia

By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Doane University-owned Lab Becomes First ISO Certified Cannabis/Hemp Testing Lab in Nebraska

By KOLN News, Lincoln NE

Hawaii State Bill Would Ban Smokable Hemp, CBD Edibles

By Hawaii House of Representatives

Court Ruling Allows Indiana Ban on Smokable Hemp

By Hemp Production News

Hemp Businesses in New Jersey Poised to Grow

By Law.com

Hemp Community Loses Industry Veteran Erik Rothenberg

By Vote Hemp

FOOD, BEVERAGE & SUPPLEMENTS

Can CBD Reduce Lung Inflammation in Covid-19 Cases?

By Brain, Behavior and Immunity Journal

White House Completes Review of CBD Guidance from FDA, but Will Public Get to See It?

By Marijuana Moment

Jane Fonda Launches Campaign for Uncle Bud’s Hemp and CBD

By Globe Newswire

New Research Backs Canine Cannabis Use For Osteoarthritis

By Forbes

FASHION, FIBER AND CONSTRUCTION

Levi Strauss Appoints New Chief Sustainability Officer to Advance Cottonized Hemp, Environmental Initiatives

By The Sourcing Journal

Why Hemp Should Be Used as a Sustainable Building Material

By Innovation News Network

Could Hemp Insulation Play a Role in Green Homes?

By The Cannabis Exchange

FARMING AND AGRICULTURE

Greenhouse Grown Hemp Finds Niche in Smokable Hemp

By Greenhouse Grower

CBN, CBG More Alluring to Hemp Farmers as CBD Prices Drop?

By Westword

Wyoming Police Raid Hemp Farm; Accuse Owners of Illegally Growing Marijuana

By WyoFile

Penn State Extension Offers Budget Models for Hemp Farmers

By Cannabis Business Times

Mississippi Passes on State Program; Tells Hemp Farmers to Apply Directly to USDA Program

By Hemp Industry Daily

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

“Fiebre Verde:” Ecuador Sets Industrial Hemp THC Limit at 1%

By Puente & Associates

Peru Opens Door to Commercialization of CBD Products

By Hemp Industry Daily

South Korea Establishes “Free Zone” for Industrial Hemp

By HempToday

EVENTS

Penn State Extension Hemp Webinar Series: Strategies for Partnering with Others, July 27, 2020, Noon – 1:00 pm EDT

Hemp Industry Deep Dive Virtual Global Tour, by Cannatech, Aug. 4, 2020, 12:00pm EDT

WAFBA – We Are for Better Alternatives – Virtual Conference & Trade Show, Presented by NoCo Hemp Expo and Let’s Talk Hemp, Nov. 10-12, 2020; Details Coming Soon

NoCo Hemp Expo – NoCo7, March 25-27, 2021, National Western Complex, Denver, CO

Southern Hemp Expo, Aug. 20-21, 2021, Nashville, TN

Read the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine

The hemp industry proves that, even in a world beset by pandemics and racial injustice, human and planetary healing can and will triumph. Read all about it in the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine, produced in conjunction with the Experience Hemp Summer Solstice Virtual Conference & Trade Show, Let’s Talk Hemp Media, and NoCo Hemp Expo, in partnership with Honeysuckle Magazine.

Featuring testimony from industry experts across diverse disciplines, Let’s Talk Hemp’s Summer Solstice edition dives into the pressing questions of the day. What is the future of hemp in a post-COVID world? What does Black representation in hemp look like, and how can we create opportunities for social equity? How can we take the next steps toward a regenerative society and integrative medicine? The answers may surprise you.

Read the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine Here.

Order Your Copy of Doug Fine’s New Book, American Hemp Farmer

American Hemp Farmer, the sixth book from author Doug Fine, follows the rigors and pleasures of an entire hemp season from soil preparation and genetics acquisition through harvest and regenerative marketing. It’s immersive. It’s wildly funny. The follow up to Doug Fine’s bestselling Hemp Bound, American Hemp Farmer pulls no punches, and because it is written by an actual hemp farmer and entrepreneur, it tells you what you need to know if you want to join the hemp renaissance.

Order American Hemp Farmer Today

Available at One Planet Hemp

Subscribe to the Let’s Talk Hemp YouTube Channel

#LetsTalkHemp is the ultimate platform that focuses on “Changing the Cannabis Conversation”. We provide news, education, and information about Hemp and Cannabis to our viewers so that they can learn more about the industry and get tips and tricks on the latest technologies. Subscribe to our channel and learn about everything from legal updates, farming, production, and new products entering the Hemp & Cannabis space.

The Kannaboom Podcast

Episode 50 – Morris Beegle, Musician and Hemp Entrepreneur

We’ve known for decades that hemp is a versatile crop, useful for food, and as a textile, building material and biofuel. Yet because it’s related to cannabis, hemp has been shunned, its value denied. As we look for positive ways to recover from the pandemic, in the context of ongoing climate change, are we finally ready to realize the tremendous economic potential of hemp? We asked Morris Beegle, who has launched multiple hemp-based businesses across various industries, for his perspective.

Listen, and learn:
- How Morris made the pivot from a career in music into success as a hemp entrepreneur
- Why hemp, a regenerative, sustainable crop, is a better alternative for the environment and consumers
- How to succeed in the hemp industry, whether you want to find a job or start a company
- Why musicians have been closely tied to cannabis / hemp
- How Morris developed the first high-end hemp guitar
Listen Here

About Let’s Talk Hemp

Let’s Talk Hemp is a publication of Colorado Hemp Company (a division of We Are For Better Alternatives) focused specifically on the subject of industrial hemp and cannabis. We present features and curate news from across the globe to share the benefits of cannabis on health, energy, manufacturing and planet (H.E.M.P.). Colorado Hemp Company also is the Producer of NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo, the nation’s leading hemp conferences and expositions.

Publisher: Morris Beegle, Elizabeth Knight

Editor: Steven Hoffman

Web Developer: Debby West

Design: Allen Haeger

Circulation: Evan Tompros

Contributor: Heather Collins

Financial Officer: Lori Buderus

Let’s Talk Hemp Podcast: Morris Beegle

Send Us Your Hemp News!

Send press releases and news announcements to news@letstalkhemp.com
July 16, 2020
Experience Counts: Colorado Hemp Industry Challenges CDA’s Selection of MJ Consultancy to Oversee State’s Hemp Center of Excellence

Fort Collins, CO (July 15, 2020) – In the midst of a pandemic, economic uncertainty and the 2020 growing season for industrial hemp farmers, the Colorado hemp industry has united in protest to challenge the recent contract award to establish the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s (CDA) Hemp Center of Excellence (COE). This is the first time that the Colorado hemp industry and its leaders have come together to speak out against the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s decision to hire the Marijuana Policy Group (aka Marijuana Policy Group Consulting, Denver, CO) to actualize the Hemp Center of Excellence’s five year plan.

In a letter to Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, hemp industry leaders expressed concerns that the state’s hemp industry “will not accept any marijuana-related group contracted to management, planning, laying out a plan or facilitating stakeholders in the development and/or goals of the Hemp Center of Excellence.”

In addition, the state of Colorado’s hemp business community is demanding that “the CDA begin/restart the contract process again in accordance with all state laws, rules, and regulations. We request the CDA directly include the Colorado hemp industry’s involvement by setting up a hemp stakeholders committee to establish rules and parameters for the selection criteria, which would be open to the public for full transparency.”

State and national hemp industry leaders Tim Gordon, Morris Beegle and Veronica Carpio jointly said the issue is “not about creating a division of hemp and marijuana, but rather the concern of a fair process which includes hemp stakeholders, and immediate action by the CDA and Governor Polis.”

According to the letter submitted on July 10, 2020, to the CDA and Colorado Governor Jared Polis, there are notable conflicts of interest with Ean Seeb (the Governor’s Special Advisor on Cannabis), the Marijuana Policy Group and the CDA that are of concern to the state’s hemp community. “We ask for a fair process and will support the contract being awarded to any group that has actual long-term experience working with hemp farmers and the hemp industry, which is distinctly different from how the marijuana industry conducts business,” said Veronica Carpio, founder of GrowHempColorado.com, author of the “Colorado Hemp Foods Bill,” one the first hemp seed breeders in the U.S., and the first female licensed hemp farmer.

The Colorado hemp industry protest, prompted by a perceived lack of communication from the CDA about its decision making related to the Hemp Center of Excellence, has caused such concern that Morris Beegle, Co-founder of We Are for Better Alternatives, producer of the NoCo Hemp Expo, has considered moving the internationally recognized event elsewhere. “The Colorado hemp industry has worked hard for years to grow our industry as a national example and provide a proven track record in the development and actualization of economic value, industry integrity and regulatory oversight, with an emphasis on public safety front and center. We’ve worked to keep hemp regulations minimal compared to extensive marijuana rules and regulations through extensive legislative and bi-partisan support,” he said.

The Colorado hemp industry is also very concerned about perception, Beegle points out. “Perhaps most importantly, we are concerned about how this direct tie to the marijuana industry will look to the USDA, FDA and DEA. Colorado could risk losing its leadership role in the U.S. related to hemp. Colorado’s hemp stakeholders need the USDA and the FDA to support the state’s efforts. This becomes more difficult when the CDA selects a marijuana stakeholder to lead the charge and build Colorado’s flagship institution, the Center of Excellence. In fact, we think decisions of this nature inadvertently support the DEA’s desire to be actively involved in hemp plans at the state and federal levels, which is a giant step back for the hemp industry in Colorado.”

Hemp industry advocate, business owner, researcher and farmer Tim Gordon said, “We absolutely welcome Marijuana Policy Group to the table for its input, but we are all in unison in the fact that any MJ policy group cannot and should not lead the hemp industry forward in development of the hemp Center of Excellence.

Centers of Excellence, established by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and state Departments of Agriculture, are created for the purposes of carrying out research, extension and education activities related to the food and agricultural sciences.

In challenging the appointment of the Marijuana Policy Group to manage the state’s COE, Colorado’s hemp industry leaders also emphasized in the letter to CDA their acknowledgement of the support Colorado Governor Jared Polis has shown to the state’s hemp industry. “We recognize the ongoing support and efforts by Governor Polis for industrial hemp on a national level and specifically here in Colorado,” they said. “He has always valued and acted upon our input and what is best for the hemp industry as a whole, and never for a single self-serving interest which is a rare, unique and a highly regarded asset to the Colorado hemp industry.”

About We Are for Better Alternatives (WAFBA)

We Are for Better Alternatives, parent to Colorado Hemp Company and producer of the 7th Annual NoCo Hemp Expo (NoCo7), is a leading organization for the advancement and advocacy of hemp farming, processing, production, innovation, education, policy and legalization in the USA. The entire team is committed to researching, developing and reporting on alternatives so that hemp can once again thrive, prosper, and help individuals and communities throughout America and around the globe. Visit www.wafba.org.

Contact

Morris Beegle, Colorado Hemp Company, 970.541.0448, mo@cohempco.com

Veronica Carpio, Grow Hemp Colorado, 720.401.5609, info@growhempcolorado.com

Tim Gordon, Functional Remedies, 970.238.0969, t.gordon@functionalremedies.com

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July 15, 2020