Pushing Progress in the DC Swamp

About this episode

The episode discusses hemp policy advocacy efforts in Washington D.C. with industry leaders.

On this week's hemp show, we talk to a couple of hemp policy advocates who recently traveled to the swamps of D.C. in hopes of affecting change. This week we're joined by Geoff Whaling, chair of the National Hemp Association, and Andrew Bish, president of the Hemp Feed Coalition. Together they represent HEMI — the Hemp Education and Marketing Initiative — which recently released its "Pushing Progress" framework, an industry-led effort to bring some structure to federal hemp policy. The Pushing Progress framework attempts to do several things — not the least of which is to impose order on an industry that's been a swirl of chaos since its inception. First, clear lanes must be established. Fiber and grain over here, cannabinoids over there — with their own rules. Next, make it easier for agriculture to adopt this crop by removing regulatory tensions and creating real access to markets — so a farmer can plant hemp with some confidence about where it's going and how it's going to get paid. As Bish puts it, "We're coming at it from the industrial aspect, trying to figure out how we make sure that we have farmers that can successfully grow industrial hemp products and that hemp…

People in this episode

Host: Eric Hurlock

Guests: Geoff Whaling, Andrew Bish

Topics covered

• hemp policy
• federal regulations
• agriculture
• cannabinoids
• market access

Keywords

• hemp
• policy
• agriculture
• cannabinoids
• market access
• federal regulations
• Hemp Education and Marketing Initiative

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Hemp Association, Hemp Feed Coalition, Hemp Education and Marketing Initiative

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