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Kristen Nichols

Kristen is a Denver-based reporter for Marijuana Business Daily specializing in the hemp and CBD industries. Previously, she worked at the Associated Press for nearly 20 years. She started covering the marijuana legalization movement in 2009 – when medical stores started popping up around Denver – and wrote about the state’s first legal hemp harvest. Kristen also covered agriculture and politics in Maryland and her home state of Georgia.

USDA suggests farmers pay hemp-promotions fee, offers no more details on rule changes

Published November 4, 2019 | By Laura Drotleff

The agency setting baseline national minimums for hemp production says growers should tax themselves to promote the new crop. A top official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Heather Pichelman, said Monday in the agency’s first address to hemp growers since releasing national regulations that the industry “has clearly shown interest” in paying fees […]

Cancer specialist nominated to lead FDA

Published November 1, 2019

A cancer specialist from Houston has been chosen to take control of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is reviewing its CBD policy. President Donald Trump on Friday picked Dr. Stephen Hahn of the MD Anderson Cancer Center to permanently lead the agency, pending congressional affirmation. The 59-year-old oncologist would replace Dr. Scott Gottlieb, […]

Fire at Pennsylvania drying shed prompts storage warning

Published November 1, 2019

Farmers drying hemp should treat their crops like hay and watch for overheating. That’s the warning in the wake of a Pennsylvania fire this week in a shed that had been converted to a hemp dryer in Lancaster County. The blaze cost farmer Alvin Esh about $5,000 to $6,000 worth of hemp, he told The Lancaster […]

Virginia tobacco giant adds hemp to its lobbying activity

Published October 30, 2019

Virginia tobacco giant Altria has added hemp policy to its lobbying activities, spending roughly $60,000 this year to lobby the U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of Agriculture on “matters pertaining to hemp and crop insurance.” The lobbying, first reported by Cannabis Wire, marks an initial lobbying effort related to hemp by the parent company of […]

A deeper dive into USDA’s hemp production rules

Published October 30, 2019 | By Laura Drotleff and Christa Madrid

What the USDA hemp rules do (and don’t do).

North Carolina lawmakers settle on 2020 for ban on smokable hemp

Published October 29, 2019

North Carolina officials have agreed to ban smokable hemp production starting next summer. House and Senate negotiators finished work late Monday on a bill that includes the ban. The measure now awaits a final procedural vote before heading to the desk of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has not said whether he supports or opposes the […]

Louisiana ag commissioner forecasts 80,000 acres of hemp grows in 2020

Published October 24, 2019

Louisiana farmers could grow hemp on up to 80,000 acres in 2020, up from zero this year, the state’s top agriculture chief said. But the growth, he noted, relies on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finishing work on new rules for production. Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain briefed state lawmakers Wednesday about hemp prospects […]

Green Growth Brands hoping for holiday boost after widening losses, layoffs

Published October 24, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

Ohio-based Green Growth Brands lost $64 million in its fiscal year but says it has a clear path to profitability as it enters the holiday shopping season with a nationwide network of CBD retailers in conventional malls. The company attributed its losses to higher-than-expected spending on building out a chain of Seventh Sense CBD kiosks […]

Maine nudges USDA on hemp rules, says states ‘unfairly restricted’ without them

Published October 24, 2019

The governor of Maine is joining hemp producers in pushing for federal agriculture authorities to release 2020 production rules. Gov. Janet Mills wrote to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week, saying that federal inaction on hemp is leaving states “unfairly restricted” in the new industry. Hemp businesses, she said, are “receiving notices of […]

MJBizDaily co-founder Farrington bowing out as CEO; Walsh to fill her role

Published October 23, 2019 | By Jeff Smith

Cassandra Farrington, the co-founder of Marijuana Business Daily, is stepping aside as CEO of the pioneering cannabis publishing and trade show business at the end of the year and will be replaced by the company’s founding editor and president, Chris Walsh. Farrington, who has overseen huge growth at MJBizDaily since its founding in 2011, will transition […]

Molson Coors sets date for CBD beverages with partner Hexo

Published October 23, 2019

Beer giant Molson Coors has set a December date to roll out a line of CBD-infused beverages in Canada with partner Hexo Corp. The portfolio of drinks hitting shelves in Canada will be called Flow Glow and start with two flavors with 10 milligrams each of CBD: Goji+Grapefruit Raspberry+Lemon The companies also plan to roll […]

Border seizures of hemp continue despite legalization, lawsuit, importer says

Published October 23, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

This story has been updated with a section discussing new import/export rules on live hemp plants. A California CBD manufacturer challenging the hemp policies of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says hemp seizures are still taking place despite nationwide legalization and a federal judge’s assurance that border seizures of legal hemp are a thing […]