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NC industrial hemp industry faces uncertainty as law set to expire

Hempress Farms in Winston-Salem is a "seed to bottle" cultivation facility that grows hemp and produces CBD products. The company has been in the hemp business for the past three years, but there are concerns about its future if a law that legalized industrial hemp in the state expires. Image courtesy of Hempress Farms Facebook.

A state law that legalized the hemp industry in North Carolina is set to expire soon. Proposed legislation is currently being discussed in the General Assembly that would keep that from happening.

The state approved a pilot program in 2015 that allows farmers to grow hemp and sell products. But if a change isn't made by the end of June, that will become illegal.

Lawmakers introduced two bills to help the industry. The 2022 Farm Act, Senate Bill 762 would permanently exclude hemp from the state's list of controlled substances, conforming with federal law. It would also differentiate between marijuana and hemp by listing a maximum chemical percentage of THC.

A similar proposal, Senate Bill 455, is also being discussed by lawmakers.

The hemp industry is booming in North Carolina and all of this is raising concerns for growers and retail shops that sell CBD products. Maya Gilliam is the owner of Hempress Farms in Winston-Salem. She says the uncertainty is difficult.

"I've been tapping into other streams of revenue for just in case, of course, and just trying to be flexible and fluid in this time when the business that you feed your family with could be illegal, so we are all just kind of waiting it out,” says Gilliam.

According to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, there are around 1,500 licensed industrial hemp producers in the state.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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