Hemp Farming Act, Hemp Futures, CBD Research and More with the Farm Bill of 2018
When Congress passed the Farm Bill of 2018 on Wednesday, which includes the Hemp Farming Act, it was a major victory for cannabis legalization advocates around the country. The Hemp Farming Act does not remove CBD from the Controlled Substance Act, but it legalizes everything extracted from the hemp plant itself. It will also open the door to banking for hemp based businesses. The Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell lead the charge for the addition of hemp on the farm bill and plans of his state being one of the leaders in hemp production around the country.
Now, the president is dealing with a whole lot at the moment, but his signature is all but assured as he has already stated openly to the press that he supports the bill. All the same, it can’t happen fast enough. It would be a great way to end a year full of political, social and economic unrest. Introducing another commodity with as many possibilities and as durable as industrial hemp may never happen again. While cannabidiol, or CBD, extracts will only become a much larger market with more visibility, it also means access to more affordable clothing, paper goods, food supplements, fuel and building material. From an investment perspective, tradable hemp futures have to be on the near horizon.
The possibilities for hemp seem nearly limitless. Now, the way economics is supposed to work, minus adding money to the economy by lowering interest rates, hemp will likely take money from other industries like lumber and cotton. It’s a zero sum game, but it will stir the pot and may bring a focus back to farming here in the United States. If it means we do not need to import as many goods and that we end up employing more people to work hemp farms, that all amounts to a lot of positives to the United States economy. Supposedly hemp is better for our soil and for crop rotations as well, which means it could help out other crops as well. Another environmental benefit is that hemp needs less water than many other crops and does not require as many pesticides either. The environmental benefits of hemp farming are not to be ignored.
I would speculate that hemp futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will not be too far down the road either. Futures are forward contracts that traders and investors can buy and sell similarly to a stock. Manufacturers will want commitments from hemp farmers for certain amounts of hemp to be delivered to them at some future date when they believe they may be running low on their supply. The price they settle on today is the price the buyer will receive the hemp for regardless of any price fluctuations before delivery is fulfilled. Eventually their will be enough open interest in these forward contracts that the CME will have every reason to created hemp futures contracts knowing that traders and investors will add that much more liquidity to the market. It will be a big day for the CME because unlike new companies joining the equity markets, they certainly do not see new commodity contracts introduced very often..
Hemp is not marijuana. While there is an abundance of CBD in hemp, it is not not psychoactive, it will not get you high. Hemp’s legalization likely means that researchers like Dr. Yasmin Hurd should be able to access CBD more easily for her research in addiction relapse. She believes CBD may be the key to stopping relapses which is the equivalent of curing people of addiction. Hemp legalization is certainly not unique to the United States. In fact, Italy legalized hemp in late 2016 and they are crazy for it. They actually smoke hemp and call it cannabis light. There are over 60 strains of hemp they grow in Italy and it is an incredibly popular market. I doubt we will see many people in the U.S. smoking hemp, why would they need to? But, we will find many other uses for it.
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cannabis newsCBDFarm Bill of 2018hempHemp Farming Acthemp futuresindustrial hemplegal hempSen. Mitch McConnell
