Below is a statement from Thomas Winstanley, EVP & GM, Edibles.com™ (part of Edible Brands/Edible Arrangements) on a newly negotiated congressional spending bill would federally recriminalize many hemp-derived THC products, including popular items like Delta-8 THC, which were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.
The legislation redefines legal hemp to include total THC content (not just Delta-9) and bans synthetically modified cannabinoids not naturally occurring in the cannabis plant.
This change would effectively eliminate a large portion of the current hemp market, restricting legal products to those with less than 0.4 mg total THC per serving, thereby outlawing most full-spectrum CBD products.
Below is a statement from Thomas Winstanley, EVP & GM, Edibles.com™ (part of Edibles Brands/Edible Arrangements) to the Lynnwood Times:
“This week, the White House announced a $12 billion aid package for farmers, funded by tariff revenues and delivered through USDA’s Farmer Bridge Assistance Program. The support is welcome—many growers are grappling with the consequences of escalating trade tensions, including a roughly 33% decline in soy exports in 2025 as negotiations with China drag on.“
“But even as Washington steps in to stabilize farmers hurt by global markets, it is simultaneously undermining them at home. Buried in the recent Continuing Resolution and Minibus appropriations package is the recriminalization of hemp-derived consumer products, a move that delivers a second, avoidable blow to already-strained producers.“
“Under the new law, hemp cultivation technically remains legal. Yet its use in consumer goods—representing about 95% of today’s hemp-derived products—will become illegal in 2026. For farmers, the distinction is meaningless: a market without buyers is not a market at all.“
“And that market is not small. The agricultural hemp sector is a $6.6 billion industry, offering farmers a rare advantage: far higher margins than those of conventional commodities. Estimated returns run 24% for hemp, compared with 15% for corn and 8% for soybeans. Roughly 65% of U.S.-grown hemp goes into the very consumer products Congress is eliminating, meaning most of the crop’s value is about to evaporate.“
“The loss isn’t just economic—it’s agronomic. Hemp is soil-building, low-input, water-efficient, and highly carbon-sequestering. It is an excellent rotational crop that helps break pest and disease cycles while reducing fertilizer and pesticide loads. In other words, it aligns perfectly with the kinds of sustainable agriculture practices lawmakers often claim to champion.“
“This is why the new subsidy package, while necessary, highlights a deeper inconsistency in federal policy. On one hand, Washington is spending taxpayer dollars to help farmers weather external shocks. On the other, it is manufacturing a domestic shock of its own by collapsing a $28 billion hemp-derived products supply chain—a chain that starts on American farms.“
“If 95% of hemp-derived consumer goods are forced off the market next year, the economic damage to rural America will dwarf the aid Washington is now offering. It is a costly, contradictory, and senseless policy choice—one that punishes farmers for playing by the rules of a crop Congress itself legalized in 2018.“
“The irony is hard to miss: taxpayers will fund billions in subsidies to offset tariff-driven losses, while Congress simultaneously destroys one of the few high-return alternatives farmers have. Policymakers cannot continue to talk about supporting agriculture while enacting legislation that makes it harder for farmers to survive and punishes consumers who rely on these products.“
“Congress must act in 2026 to correct this disastrously short-sighted decision and safeguard both farmers and the millions of Americans who safely use hemp products.”
COMMENTARY DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Lynnwood Times nor any of its affiliate
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
