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Producers will be allowed to import hemp seeds after a procedural correction from the Department of Agriculture corrected a state of limbo for the industry.

The delay in passing and implementing the 2018 farm bill has left hemp producers and state departments of agriculture dealing with a world of uncertainty regarding everything from importing seed to providing guidance to law enforcement about how to regulate the transportation of hemp across state lines.

In an analysis of dairy supply management policy, American Farm Bureau Chief Economist John Newton says industry coordination to manage the dairy supply “could prove beneficial in the short-run, some reflection should be given on the long-run.”

Producers in the Southern U.S. hope a new 2018 farm bill pilot program will help reduce feral swine populations, which cause an estimated $1.5 billion in damage every year in over 30 states.

The Farm Credit Administration will issue guidance as soon as next week to system institutions on lending to producers who are clamoring to get financing for industrial hemp, but the commodity’s future remains clouded by regulatory hurdles.

The farm bill mandates a Soil Health Demonstration Trial, paying farmers to experiment with ways to build soil carbon and then record their results for potentially new markets in the future.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program will take on a broader role, with more dollars and longer contracts, as it emerges under 2018 farm bill provisions.

The 2018 farm bill officially recognizes urban farmers — from those with community gardens to those operating multi-million-dollar vertical farms — with the creation of both a new office and a research, education, and extension initiative.