A key House committee chairman has unveiled the latest version of a large-scale agriculture bill—with provisions his office says will reduce “regulatory burdens for producers of industrial hemp.”
The proposed 2026 Farm Bill released on Friday by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) would maintain the industrial hemp program at a time when the cannabinoid industry finds itself threatened by a pending recriminalization of most consumable cannabinoid products under separate legislation President Donald Trump signed into law last year.
But for farmers growing hemp for industrial purposes such as fiber and grain, the latest iteration of the Farm Bill is being pitched as a source of industry relief, with policies allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as states and tribes, to “reduce or eliminate testing requirements and background checks for producers,” for example.
Those provisions are modeled after the standalone Industrial Hemp Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in the 118th Congress aimed at bolstering the hemp market that evolved after the crop and its derivatives were federally legalized in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office.
Under the new 2026 Farm Bill, USDA would also face a mandate to “establish a process by which laboratories can be accredited for the purposes of testing hemp,” a section-by-section summary says. As it currently stands, only labs accredited by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are able to test hemp yields for compliance purposes, which has historically created a bottleneck given limited resources.
“A new farm bill is long overdue, and the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 is an important step forward in providing certainty to our farmers, ranchers, and rural communities,” Thompson said of the overall legislation in a press release on Friday.
“This bill provides modern policies for modern challenges and is shaped by years of listening to the needs of farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans,” he said. “The farm bill affects our entire country, regardless of whether you live on a farm, and I look forward to seeing my colleagues in Congress work together to get this critical legislation across the finish line.”
His panel is set to begin considering the bill on February 23.
While the text of the legislation has just been publicly released, Democratic leadership has already taken issue with the proposal as drafted.
“Our review of the legislative text is ongoing,” Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), ranking member of the committee, said. “Based on what I know, the Republican farm bill fails to meet the moment facing farmers and working people.”
“Farmers need Congress to act swiftly to end inflationary tariffs, stabilize trade relationships, expand domestic market opportunities like year-round E15 and help lower input costs. The Republican majority instead chose to ignore Democratic priorities and focus on pushing a shell of a farm bill with poison pills that complicates if not derails chances of getting anything done,” she said. “I strongly urge my Republican colleagues to drop the political charade and work with House Democrats on a truly bipartisan bill to address the very real problems farm country is experiencing right now—before it’s too late.”
Again, regardless of how the proposed revisions to industrial hemp policy play out, a more pressing concern for the main economic driver of the cannabis market—that is, the farmers, manufacturers and processors of consumable cannabinoid products such as CBD—is not addressed in this latest Farm Bill.
Under spending legislation the president signed, cannabinoid products containing even trace amounts of THC would be prohibited once again, which stakeholders say would effectively upend the already struggling marketplace.
Since 2018, cannabis products have been considered legal hemp if they contain less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis.
However, the law that is set to take effect in November specifies that the weight would apply to total THC—including delta-8 and other isomers. It would also include “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals as a tetrahydrocannabinol (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services).”
The new definition of legal hemp would additionally ban “any intermediate hemp-derived cannabinoid products which are marketed or sold as a final product or directly to an end consumer for personal or household use” as well as products containing cannabinoids that are synthesized or manufactured outside of the cannabis plant or not capable of being naturally produced by it.
Legal hemp products would be limited to a per-container total of 0.4 milligrams of total THC or any other cannabinoids with similar effects.
A bill titled the Hemp Enforcement, Modernization, and Protection (HEMP) Act represents a potential alternative to the outright THC ban that was included in the spending bill Trump signed, affirmatively allowing the sale of consumable hemp products to adults 21 and older. That includes edibles, beverages and inhalable items.
If the legislation is enacted, there would be various regulatory restrictions for the market. For example, packaging couldn’t appeal to youth and would need to be tamper-proof. It would also need to list all cannabinoids present and include QR code linking to a certificate of analysis.
Hemp product makers would be prohibited from adding substances like alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, nicotine, melatonin or others “with effects that could interact with cannabinoids or enhance or alter their effects.”
There would also be manufacturing and testing requirements, and hemp businesses would need to register their facilities.
Additionally, there are provisions mandating the establishment of a total cannabinoid cap on hemp products. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would be charged with proposing cannabinoid limits within 60 days of enactment.
Meanwhile, alcohol retailers recently came together to encourage Congress to delay the enactment of the law Trump signed to federally recriminalize hemp-derived THC beverages and other products.
The coalition is calling on lawmakers to pass recently introduced legislation, the Hemp Planting Predictability Act, that would give the hemp industry two more years before a federal ban on THC products would take effect—which stakeholders hope will better position them to negotiate a broader regulatory compromise.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who is cosponsoring the proposal, appeared at a press conference last month alongside farmers who are concerned about the looming federal hemp ban’s impact on their businesses.
For what it’s worth, four in five marijuana consumers say they oppose the recriminalization of hemp THC products under the spending bill Trump signed in November. However, it should be noted that that poll was conducted weeks before he issued a cannabis rescheduling order and took steps to protect access to full-spectrum CBD.
Meanwhile, a separate recently filed Republican-led congressional bill would stop the implementation of the hemp ban under the enacted appropriations legislation.
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Hemp businesses and industry groups have warned about the potential ramifications of the ban, but despite his support for states’ rights for cannabis and a social media post touting the benefits of CBD, Trump signed the underlying spending measure into law without acknowledging the hemp provisions.
GOP political operative Roger Stone said recently that Trump was effectively “forced” by Republican lawmakers to sign the spending bill with the hemp THC ban language.
However, a White House spokesperson said prior to the bill signing that Trump specifically supported the prohibition language.
The Democratic governor of Kentucky said that the hemp industry is an “important” part of the economy that deserves to be regulated at the state level—rather than federally prohibited, as Congress has moved to do.
Also, a leading veterans organization is warning congressional leaders that the newly approved blanket ban on consumable hemp products could inadvertently “slam the door shut” on critical research.
