As cannabinoid hemp farmers continue to fight for their future, industrial hemp farmers could secure greater stability in 2026 under a five-year farm bill reauthorization package.
U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., filed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 on Feb. 13, announcing that his 54-member chamber will begin marking up the new farm bill draft on Feb. 23.
The 802-page draft legislation, House Resolution 7567, would reduce “regulatory burdens” for industrial hemp producers through allowing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), states and tribes to “reduce or eliminate” testing requirements and background checks, according to a summary released by Thompson’s office.
Specifically, the 2026 Farm Bill proposal directs the USDA to consult with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and establish a process for accrediting laboratories to test hemp. This would remove a requirement that labs be DEA-registered to test hemp, which the USDA has repeatedly delayed enforcing due to “inadequate” DEA-registered laboratory testing capacities.
In addition, Thompson’s proposal would allow industrial hemp farmers to reduce their sampling or testing requirements through “visual inspections, performance-based sampling methodologies, certified seed, or a similar procedure when developing sampling plans.”
Also under the 2026 draft language, hemp farmers could self-designate their type of production as “only industrial hemp,” such as fiber or grain, or as “hemp grown for any purpose other than industrial hemp,” such as cannabinoids.
For farmers who elect to be designated as “only industrial hemp” producers, the 2026 Farm Bill would eliminate a 10-year ineligibility period for those convicted of a controlled-substance-related felony.
Any farmer who self-designates as an industrial hemp producer and cultivates plants outside of that definition would be punished.
“Any person who knowingly produces a crop that is inconsistent with the designation of only industrial hemp … shall be ineligible to participate in the program established under this section for a period of five years,” the draft language states.
The GOP-sponsored legislation comes after President Donald Trump signed a government-reopening appropriations package in November 2025 that included a provision to ban intoxicating consumable hemp products beginning in November 2026.
This forthcoming ban includes hemp products containing synthetic (delta-8 THC) or unnatural (HHC) cannabinoids, as well as those with more than 0.3% of total THC (including THCA) or 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container.
In the aftermath of that provision being tucked away in Congress’ deal to reopen the government, House and Senate lawmakers introduced companion bills to delay the federal hemp product ban until November 2028, arguing that cannabinoid hemp farmers need more time to prepare.
Eighth-generation Kentucky farmer Brian Furnish explained that he began growing hemp under the state’s pilot program in 2014 to help overcome a struggling tobacco industry and now faces more financial struggles, including the devaluation of his land.
“Hemp is the only crop that we have found, grown for cannabinoids, that can rival tobacco and even be better than tobacco right now,” he said last month. “Our challenge is, if we don’t get a two-year extension, I, as a farmer, can’t sell my current inventory that I harvested legally and planted legally in 2025.”
The 2026 Farm Bill proposal does not offer a lifeline to cannabinoid hemp farmers like Furnish. In fact, the draft language aligns with the forthcoming intoxicating product prohibition by removing the 0.3% delta-9 THC threshold that was established in the 2018 Farm Bill, which is often referred to as the “loophole” that allowed intoxicating hemp products to proliferate nationwide.
Instead, the 2026 proposal inserts total THC testing standards (including THCA) of not more than 0.3% in the plant.
That said, Rep. James Baird, R-Ind., who serves on the House Agriculture Committee, is the primary sponsor of the legislation to delay the federal hemp ban by two years, the Hemp Planting Predictability Act. The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., co-sponsors the bill.
That bipartisan duo could attempt to attach the Hemp Planting Predictability Act to the farm bill proposal; however, such an attempt would likely be stifled by Thompson, who believes banning or regulating finished goods such as consumable hemp products falls outside the Agriculture Committee’s governance.
The nation’s farm bill, which has been renewed/reauthorized 18 times since 1933, allows Congress to regularly address the nation’s current agricultural and food policies through a variety of programs, including nutrition assistance like SNAP as well as myriad farm-related matters, from fertilizer and energy use to crop insurance, commodity support and conservation.
Thompson said a new farm bill “is long overdue,” and the 2026 proposal “is an important step forward” in providing certainty to the nation’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities.
“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 in announcing the draft language. “The farm bill affects our entire country, regardless of whether you live on a farm.”
While cannabinoid hemp farmers could view the 2026 Farm Bill proposal as another battle in their pursuit to safeguard the business plans they adopted under the 2018 Farm Bill, industrial hemp farmers could view the draft legislation as reinforcement to their legitimacy.
Geoff Whaling, who chairs the National Hemp Association (NHA), whose membership is rooted in the fiber and grain markets, said on social media that the hemp section of the 2026 Farm Bill draft language represents a “significant policy recalibration” for the industry.
“In practical terms, this section tightens and clarifies the federal definition of hemp while reinforcing that hemp is an agricultural commodity – not a workaround for intoxicating THC markets,” he said. “The policy direction is clear: protect industrial hemp as a legitimate agricultural commodity, while closing the loophole that allowed intoxicating cannabinoid products to proliferate outside regulated marijuana systems.”
The NHA has consistently called for a “clear distinction” between industrial hemp agriculture and the intoxicating cannabinoid market, he said.
