GOP Senator: 2023 Farm Bill Needs Deadline Extension, USDA Warns Of Chaotic Farm Economy

A ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, U.S. Senator John Boozman (R) recently indicated that a congressional farm bill might need a deadline extension.

What happened: Washington lawmakers failed to pass the bill by the end-of-September deadline and now have a little more than two months to get it done. Last week, Boozman said he would like to consider a one-year extension, writes St. Louis Public Radio.

“We want to get the farm bill done as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of the year. That doesn't preclude us from getting it done,” Boozman said. “But it gives us that time. And it gives the farmers the certainty that they will have a farm bill in place.”

Why it matters: The need for a new Farm Bill is growing. It’s been five years since Donald  Trump signed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Act 2018), which effectively legalized hemp and hemp-derived products on the federal level. Under the bill, hemp is considered to have only 0.3% delta 9 THC. What about products derived from hemp, are they regulated as food? Are they considered supplements?

See Also: Is It Hemp? Is It Weed? Is It Food Or Supplement? Congress Should Make It Clear In 2023 Farm Bill, Say Regulators

These are only some of the questions that are important to those in the hemp and cannabis industries and the Farm Bill covers many more commodities than hemp. It’s a huge and important piece of legislation, which is why some experts in the field think that extension is a reasonable option.

Jonathan Havens, partner and co-chair of Saul Ewing’s Cannabis Law and Food, Beverage and Agribusiness practices told Cannabis Business Times that the extension comes as no surprise.

“For anybody who’s not read it before or has not read anything but the hemp-related provisions, it’s a behemoth,” Havens said of the Farm Bill. “It’s a big bill, and it deals with a lot of things and—with no denigration to the industry that I spent a lot of time in—it’s but a small part of the overall legislation.”

In regards to hemp, it’s still not clear if the new Farm Bill would address the issue of hemp-derived cannabis in ingestible products, or if it will through the ball back into the FDA’s court.

The impact of the Farm Bill goes beyond hemp and cannabis. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently highlighted if Jan.1 2024 comes without the 2023 Farm Bill passage and without an extension, the U.S. farm economy would turn “chaotic.” Vilsack explained that some programs would automatically revert back to certain provisions outlined in 1938.

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