Farm Bill

The Farm Bill is the recurring federal agriculture law whose 2018 version legally separated hemp from marijuana on the basis of delta-9 THC concentration.

Farm bills are passed roughly every five years and cover crop programs, nutrition assistance and rural policy. The 2018 edition, formally the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, defined hemp as cannabis with no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis, removed it from the Controlled Substances Act, and directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to oversee production through state and tribal plans.

The law made hemp a lawful agricultural commodity; it did not change the authority of the FDA over foods, drugs, supplements and cosmetics. That is why hemp-derived CBD can be grown and sold while the federal status of CBD in foods and supplements remains unresolved. Later farm bills and extensions may revise the hemp definition, so the current statute rather than the 2018 text is what governs at any given time.