EMAIL: [email protected]
PHONE: 720.643.4450

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.

Canadian CBD firm expands in Europe with Polish hemp grower

Published May 8, 2019

A Canadian company focused on CBD extraction in Europe has bought a Polish hemp grower. StillCanna acquired Olimax, which grows about 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares) of hemp, in a deal valued at more than 25 million Canadian dollars ($18.6 million). The cash-and-stock deal includes a cash payment of $2 million, plus 24 million common shares […]

Mattress firm navigates tricky hemp-fiber market

Published May 6, 2019 | By Esteban Fernandez

A Michigan company hopes to be at the forefront of industrial hemp textile and fabric adoption by marketing hemp mattresses to millennials. However, short supply of hemp fiber for textiles and fabric is creating challenges for the company and driving up the price. “When we went on the hunt for the ingredients to build the […]

Kentucky hemp company researching cultivation in space

Published May 2, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

A Kentucky hemp company is sending seeds into space to see what changes when the plant has less gravity.

Winchester-based Atalo Holdings’ seeds will hitch a ride to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX 17, scheduled to launch Friday.

Canopy Growth settles on New York hemp site, will start building this summer

Published April 29, 2019

Canadian marijuana giant Canopy Growth has chosen a small New York town near the Pennsylvania border as the site for its $150 million entrance into the U.S. hemp market. Canopy announced Monday it will build an industrial park on a 48-acre property in Kirkwood, New York, about 5 miles north of the Pennsylvania border. The […]

Ohio company’s takeover bid for Aphria cannabis group expires

Published April 29, 2019

Green Growth Brands, which sells hemp-derived CBD personal-care products in U.S. shoe stores and mall kiosks and trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange as GGB, won’t be buying Canadian marijuana producer Aphria. The hostile takeover bid has expired. Aphria, which trades as APHA on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, consistently […]

Texas House gives hemp legalization initial OK, boosting odds for commercial industry

Published April 23, 2019

A Texas proposal to open the nation’s second-largest state to the hemp farming boom could soon become a reality after House legislators gave the idea an important thumbs-up Tuesday. The legislation positions Texas to join at least 42 other states with legal hemp production. The measure passed without objection in a preliminary House vote, meaning […]

Standards standoff: CBD, hemp industries debate how to self-regulate

Published April 22, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

Everyone in the hemp industry seems to agree that voluntary safety regulations would help the burgeoning CBD industry avoid troublesome regulations from the federal government. Problem is, there’s little agreement on how it should be done. Manufacturers and retailers have been sniping for years over the best way to grow and process cannabis used to […]

North Dakota lowers hemp fees, approves flower and CBD production

Published April 19, 2019

North Dakota has lowered fees on hemp farmers and lifted a ban on flower and CBD production. The state ranked seventh in hemp acreage in 2018, even though the law previously limited hemp production to fiber and seed products. Gov. Doug Burgum signed the measure into law earlier this month. The changes take effect for […]

Canopy’s Linton: ‘Massive shakeout’ ahead for CBD sector

Published April 18, 2019 | By Matt Lamers

Upheaval is ahead for North America’s CBD market, and those companies that focus on data, research and branding are the ones that will likely survive, according to Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton. “Water’s free, and you can make a lot of money packaging and branding it,” he said at the Cannabis Conference in Toronto, hosted by […]

Lawsuit: Federal farm official threatened Oklahoma farmers over hemp

Published April 17, 2019 | By Jeff Smith

An Oklahoma hemp company is suing a federal agricultural official for allegedly trying to coerce farmers away from participating in the state’s industrial hemp pilot program through false and unlawful statements. The lawsuit by Equitable Organic Ventures (EOV) claims that Scott Biggs, executive director of the Oklahoma division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm […]

Aurora Cannabis to increase hemp stake, buy Alberta producer

Published April 16, 2019

Canadian marijuana giant Aurora Cannabis is getting deeper into the hemp space, announcing Tuesday that it plans to acquire the rest of a hemp company it partially purchased last year. Aurora said it will buy the remaining outstanding shares of Hempco Food and Fiber, which makes hemp foods and nutritional supplements in Nisku, Alberta. Aurora, which […]

Colorado CBD manufacturer raises $65M to buy ‘mountains of hemp’

Published April 15, 2019

Loveland, Colorado-based Mile High Labs – a manufacturer of CBD crude oil, distillate and isolate – is borrowing $65 million to buy “millions of pounds” of pelletized hemp for CBD extraction. The company closed on the debt facility with investment firm MGG Capital. The term loan comes less than six months after Mile High Labs closed […]