<P> Hemp production in the United States essentially ceased in the 1950s due to market conditions and federal regulations . Since the mid-1990s, there has been a resurgence of interest in the United States in producing industrial hemp . Executive Order 12919 (1994) identified hemp as a strategic national product that should be stockpiled . </P> <P> The 2018 legislation was preceded by a failed Industrial Hemp Farming Act (109th Congress (House) and 114th Congress (Senate)) and a hemp - and CBD - related attempt to amend to the Controlled Substances Act (114th Congress); and the Agricultural Act of 2014, which created a regulated, national agricultural hemp pilot program under which states could create their own pilot program regulations . There existed "ongoing tension between federal and state authorities over state hemp policies" due to non-cooperation of the DEA with state programs, and lawsuits brought or threatened by farmers and states against the DEA . The DEA and conflicting Federal court decisions regarding "low THC content (hemp) and marijuana of greater THC content" left a perplexing environment for would - be producers with "general uncertainty about how federal authorities will respond to production in states where state laws allow cultivation", especially after the Justice Department's 2018 recission of the 2013 Cole Memorandum . By 2018, groups calling for de-scheduling of hemp included the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the National Conference of State Legislatures . </P> <P> In April, the Senate invoked Rule 14 and skipped over committees or debate, and placed the bill directly on its calendar . </P> <P> The farm bill was sent to conference committee in mid 2018 . The Associated Press noted appointment of first - term Representative James Comer, a Republican Kentucky hemp supporter and the state's former agriculture commissioner, to the committee . </P>

When will the hemp farming act of 2018 be voted on