The US plans to pay for the cultivation of cannabis from the budget of the state structure, specializing in carbon farming

The U.S. government is likely to spend money on incentivizing agricultural producers to help tackle climate change, so activity by farmers or cannabis companies should give American cannabis growers another incentive to help them cope with climate change. favorable conditions for the cultivation of primarily technical hemp.

The head of the US Department of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, speaking about the possibilities of using $ 30 billion focused on the accounts of one of the structural divisions of the department headed by him - an agency specializing in paying for methods that can remove carbon from the atmosphere and fight global warming, said that the issue of payment of financial resources by the “carbon bank”. The above structure can inject significant financial resources into the US hemp industry in the following ways:

•  payments for carbon sequestration can be an additional source of income for cannabis growers;

•  carbon payments can encourage farmers to add cannabis to crop rotation, increasing production of industrial hemp in the United States;

•  Cannabis growers can be encouraged to cultivate varieties that are better suited for housing and other industrial uses that capture carbon for many years, rather than medicinal varieties that are currently more attractive in terms of income, but do not have long-term climatic potential.

In view of the above, some analysts from the US hemp market argue that the idea of ​​compensation for growing hemp as a crop that absorbs significant amounts of carbon could take the entire industry to a new stage of development. 

A number of market experts argue that these payments will not be relevant this year, as the USDA has not released any details on how the "carbon payments" will work. In particular, Mr. Vilsack said that the agency subordinate to him "first wants to navigate this issue and evaluate the effectiveness of various ideas on the introduction of carbon payments." Some experts in the US agricultural market point to the Department's sad reputation for fair use of federal resources. They argue that large companies that support lobbying structures can receive the lion's share of carbon funds, and these resources will not reach directly to farms specializing in the cultivation of technical hemp.

Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

Industrial hemp growers will become more competitive if the United States starts paying farmers to sequester carbon as a way to tackle climate change. At the same time, it should be noted that the US government is not alone in exploring the possibility of “carbon payments” to farmers. Australia already pays farmers to capture carbon, and similar incentive schemes for agricultural producers to grow industrial crops of industrial hemp are being considered in Canada and the European Union. 

Based on the above, it can be said that the US government will most likely start spending money on encouraging agricultural producers to help cope with climate change, therefore, the activity of farmers or companies specializing in the cultivation of hemp plants in this area should lead to the fact that American cannabis growers will have another incentive to create favorable conditions for the cultivation of primarily technical hemp.