The hemp industry has experienced and continues to see a surge of growth and awareness nationwide. Following passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, permanently legalizing the crop and removing hemp from its classification as a controlled substance, consumer demand for hemp and hemp products like CBD have skyrocketed.

Unfortunately, there remain many challenges. Confusion about hemp’s legal status — and the differences between hemp and its intoxicating cousin, marijuana — has too often stymied commerce in the industry, particularly with traditional banking products and merchant services being limited in their availability to those trying to grow their businesses.

New federal guidance opens doors

This month, we witnessed a breakthrough development. Upon the bipartisan urging of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Ron Wyden, four federal banking regulatory agencies — Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — joined by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors — issued joint guidance confirming the legal status of hemp and the requirements for banks providing financial services to businesses.

Secure banking is a key target, and ongoing problem for the hemp industry.

The new guidance achieves many necessary benchmarks integrating hemp and banking, such as no longer requiring banks to file suspicious activity reports for customers solely because they are engaged in the growth or cultivation of hemp in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Further, the guidance clarifies the difference between hemp businesses and marijuana businesses — adding yet another point of relief to banks concerned with national and state legality.

The hope is that the joint guidance should alleviate any fear of audits or regulatory crackdowns that have slowed financial institution integration with the hemp industry. However, this does not require banks or financial entities to participate in business with hemp companies. Nor does this guidance directly address the legality of hemp-derived CBD commerce.

Hemp banking rights and the SAFE Banking Act

With all of this in mind, there is still work to be done. Priority #1 is passage of the SAFE Banking Act.

This bipartisan legislation, initially focused on providing a green light to marijuana banking in states where pot is legal, was amended to ensure a separate safe harbor for hemp, with far fewer hoops since it is not a controlled substance. It also directs federal financial agencies to provide clear guidance to both banks and other financial institutions — such as credit card companies — that hemp and CBD commerce are legal. The bill was passed overwhelmingly by the House in September and we are hopeful to see full Senate consideration soon.

Banking is one of the key targets that the hemp industry is aiming to secure, as this will allow for an increase in legal hemp business growth and practices. The goal of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable is to provide consumers with safe and legal hemp products along with the knowledge that the companies are meeting the highest standards and complying with national and state law.

The post Banking Rights in the Hemp Industry: We Need “SAFE” Banking appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

First, our host Matt discusses the recent passage of the SAFE Banking Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and what it means for hemp businesses. Then we begin our Profiles of Women in Hemp with a conversation with Jane Pinto, founder of First Crop.

We want to hear from you too. Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send us your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, email matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. If you really want to help us out, we’d love for you to rate or review the show.

Thanks again for listening! Contact sales@ministryofhemp.com if you’re interested in sponsoring our podcast or other content on our website.

More about women in the hemp industry

Here are some other articles we’ve published about women in the hemp industry:

• Exploring Hemp in India with Mansi Shah of Hemp Fabric Lab
• Becoming a hemp advocate, with Cait Curley
• Women owned CBD brands we love

Women In Hemp & Hemp Banking Update: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the full written transcript of this episode:

Matt Baum: 00:04 Welcome to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. My name is Matt Baum. Today on the show, we are starting the first of what I’m calling a series focusing on women in the hemp industry. Today we’re going to listen to my conversation with Jane Pinto from First Crop. Jane is amazing. She is not unlike interviewing a unicorn. She is spiritual. She is excited. She is powerful, and she is helping hemp farmers to bring their product to the public and making sure they do it in a safe and responsible way. Jane was wonderful, and I can’t wait for you to hear this interview, but before we get into that, let’s touch on a little news first.

Hemp banking update

Matt Baum: 00:52 Just a couple episodes ago, we were talking about banking and how difficult it is for anyone in the hemp business to legitimately process electronic payments or get loans from a bank. Well, there’s actually very good news this week. The SAFE Banking Act or the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019, which is sponsored by several different bipartisan representatives, just passed in the US House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote of 321 to 103, which is crazy because there are no more bipartisan votes in Washington, DC. The hemp industry is feeling pretty good. It looks like this could pass the Senate, and the SAFE Act is going to be introduced, and it’s going to get voted on.

Matt Baum: 01:39 What it would do, it would allow marijuana related businesses and states with some form of legalized marijuana and strict regulatory structures as well as businesses selling hemp derived products, that’s where the hemp comes in, to access the banking system. 2019 was not a great year for hemp crops. The farmers battled rain and drought and hail, mold, everything you can possibly imagine that would kill a hemp plant. This year’s harvest, which is the first since hemp was made legal throughout the US under the 2018 Farm Bill is estimated to come in at 115,000 to 138,000 acres, and that’s according to votehemp.com. That sounds like a lot, but it’s nothing when you think about the millions of acres that are devoted to major cash crops.

Matt Baum: 02:30 I know you hear me saying the word marijuana, but due to the confusion over the legality of hemp, most banks and credit card processors have been hesitant at best to provide services to what they call cannabisnesses. Some of them have even canceled banking and financial services for very legitimate hemp businesses because they were afraid they were selling marijuana. Well, the good news is if the SAFE Banking Act passes US Senate, then everyone is going to have access to legitimate banking and legitimate electronic payment processing. From there, hemp becomes a legitimate business.

Matt Baum: 03:12 What can you do? Call your senator today and make sure that they plan on voting for the SAFE Banking Act to legitimize hemp and hemp businesses in your state. Now, my conversation with Jane Pinto.

Jane Pinto, hemp entrepreneur

Jane Pinto: 03:34 I have been entrepreneurial literally it feels like from a very young person, and I think everything I’ve done along the way really has led to this place, this transformative place with hemp because all the businesses I’ve been in and started with wonderful people along the way have truly been about not just what are we doing? Who are we doing it with, and how are we doing it, and why are we doing it?

Matt Baum: 04:14 Right. There’s thoughtfulness behind it basically.

Jane Pinto: 04:16 Always been mission-based, always been impact businesses.

Matt Baum: 04:20 That’s awesome.

Jane Pinto: 04:21 Have no interest in working to just work. I call it work-work living.

Matt Baum: 04:27 Sure. You’re a bad capitalists like me then.

Jane Pinto: 04:32 Oh yeah, but I do believe in capitalism very much because I-

Matt Baum: 04:35 I do too. I’m just not very good at it. That’s the problem.

Jane Pinto: 04:40 I believe in regenerative capitalism. I believe in reciprocity. I believe that we should be really successful and we should share that success in service.

Matt Baum: 04:51 That sounds wonderful. Do you come from an agriculture background?

Jane Pinto: 04:56 I have absolutely nothing to do with agriculture, nor have I ever … Except that I love mother nature and our planet, and that is why I am involved with these great men and great women in hemp. I am.

Getting into the hemp business

Matt Baum: 05:14 How did you end up here? What brought you to hemp?

Jane Pinto: 05:17 This is how I got there. I was in the food business. I had started a company with a great group of people that was healing food allergy kids like my child had life-threatening food allergies, nothing for her to eat, nothing healthy, delicious or safe. We went into that free-from world so you get into the natural products industry and into that marketplace, and you start meeting incredible people and then all of a sudden, because you want the best ingredients and you want to know who farmed them and how they farmed them, that’s how you get into agriculture. That’s how I got in, was through Don’t Go Nuts through Pinto Barn, the the previous company that I founded. In that industry, I met so many great people.

Matt Baum: 06:09 Did you say it was called Don’t Go Nuts?

Jane Pinto: 06:12 Yeah, Don’t Go Nuts.

Matt Baum: 06:13 That’s a great name.

Jane Pinto: 06:14 It was the food line.

Matt Baum: 06:15 I like that.

Jane Pinto: 06:18 Yeah, food is great.

Matt Baum: 06:19 From there, you started-

Jane Pinto: 06:20 The families do go nuts trying to keep their kids safe with that.

Matt Baum: 06:22 Oh, absolutely. It is awful right now.

Jane Pinto: 06:28 You start working with the farmers and then the suppliers and we had to do a field to fingers process and practices so we knew where everything was coming from and it was safe. I started to meet the farmers, and that changed me. We really did.

Matt Baum: 06:45 They’re incredible. They’re incredible people to do what they do on a daily basis and work as hard as they do for as little money. It’s true passion and it’s amazing. You used the term field to fingers. What is that? Tell me about that.

Jane Pinto: 07:00 Well, field to fingers was that we knew who grew it, how they grew it. If it was gluten-free, we knew there were no fields around to crosspollinate. We knew where it was shipped from, what supplier held it. We knew cross-contamination and all the way through our manufacturing facility, all the way to the kid’s fingers. We knew what the quality and safety was with that product, so we knew they were safe and they would be well for meeting it.

Matt Baum: 07:28 I really like that, field to fingers. I’m going to steal that and use it. That’s good.

What is First Crop?

Jane Pinto: 07:32 Yeah. Well, we’re soil to soul at First Crop.

Matt Baum: 07:36 Tell me about First Crop. You are helping small hemp farmers currently, right?

Jane Pinto: 07:42 Well, First Crop came together because of all the incredible people I met in food. I met this wonderful man along the way, Michael Bowman, who is called Mr. Hemp. About four years ago, he and the other people who have founded this company with me because we all had been talking about it for quite a long time, we really started to watch policy and see what was going to happen. What I learned, because of who it sounds like you and I are, everyone else was looking at there are five lanes of hemp. This is going to be a multi trillion dollar business, 100,000 products. What I love is that it pulls carbon out of the air and puts it back into the soil, and that helps every living being on this planet. We have to take care of it.

Jane Pinto: 08:36 We’re out of time. We got to grow things and make things that save our planet, and then we need those products to also heal our bodies and our souls. That’s why I think hemp is … I approach this plant with heart and humility because I actually feel it’s a pretty sacred transformative delivery to us right now. I truly believe that, Matt.

Matt Baum: 09:01 Hearing you say that, you sound … The same words came out of some of the Native American growers in Nebraska, in Colorado that I met. They sounded exactly like what you were saying and saying that this is not a plant that we own, and we should not treat it that way. This is a plant that can help us, but we have to grow it right and we have to take care of it and it will take care of us.

Jane Pinto: 09:29 Well, that’s exactly right. I hope and pray that we have set First Crop up in a regenerative ecosystem that really honors that process all the way from the loamy soil, how we treat it, what nutrients we put in, how we can nourish it throughout the coming years, the type of seeds we use, the partnerships with our farmers that elevate them and their rural communities because we have a foundation that will give back to them. We share our profits with the farmers, and that for me really makes this a kinship instead of where the people who grow hemp and then we sell it and we buy it and we make this. We’re a regenerative system, and I don’t think our world is going to survive without regeneration and reciprocity.

Matt Baum: 10:21 Flat out it’s not going to. No question there. The science bears it out no matter what anybody tells you. It’s interesting because I talked to a couple of people recently that spoke about what they called the marijuana mavens, the people that came in and said there’s money to be made here, and we just have to grow as much as we can, as fast as we can and flood the market with it, just like in soybeans or corn or any other crop out there. It seems like you and this person realize that we have a unique chance here to grow a plant that really hasn’t been modified since we stopped growing it 75 years ago and do it the right way.

The healing power of hemp

Jane Pinto: 11:05 Oh, it’s pure. It is transformative. It is humble. It’s pure. It’s a healer.

Matt Baum: 11:14 Yeah, definitely. No question. I’m taking CBD daily, and it’s helped with pain in my hands. What does First Crop do?

Jane Pinto: 11:23 It’s a healer right from the minute we put the seed in. You know what I mean?

Matt Baum: 11:27 Sure.

Jane Pinto: 11:27 That tap root starts working on our earth and then it grows up and then it just pulls carbon out of the air and puts it back in the soil. What more could we ask?

Matt Baum: 11:37 Exactly.

Jane Pinto: 11:37 Nevermind what it does once we get it out of the earth. You can use every bit of this plant to do something that is regenerative for our planet after it’s already regenerated … done regenerative practice on our soil. It’s beyond words really.

Matt Baum: 11:59 I laugh because it’s true. You’re absolutely right. Can I ask, how does First Crop, I called it first corp, I apologize, how does First Crop help farmers?

Jane Pinto: 12:08 That’s okay. We don’t want to be corpses [crosstalk 00:12:10].

Matt Baum: 12:10 No. Exactly. Not yet. It sounds a little too big banking to me.

Jane Pinto: 12:17 I want the loamy soil but not so fast.

Matt Baum: 12:19 Right, exactly. How do you help small farmers? Where does First Crop come in?

Jane Pinto: 12:25 Well, we like to say instead of teaching and helping them, they’re actually teaching and helping us. We partner with them so that by bringing the resources and expertise that we have on the team in regenerative farming, in seed gen, in genetics, in planting soil to soul that we bring them … They’re the flowing river. We’re the banks. We’re just helping them and partnering with them to make sure that they take this risk and there is a reward that is not only in carbon currency, it’s in capital currency, it’s in full currency, all of that because it’s a big deal for a farmer to trust that they cannot do what they did the year before and do this and know they can feed their families.

Matt Baum: 13:24 It’s got to be terrifying to make that choice.

Jane Pinto: 13:27 Yeah. I think because Michael Bowman and David Hill and Dave Weir and Dave Armstrong, who are my partners, co-founders in this, and then we have incredible women helping always in product development, in relations. I just think that when we bring it all together, there’s trust and credibility to the farmer that we’re going to walk them through this process. Look, we’re learning too. This is a new thing. Anyone who says they’ve got it or they’re the ones, they miss the whole point. We’re all the ones together.

Matt Baum: 14:05 Exactly. They’re probably lying if they say they’ve nailed it and they’ve got it.

Jane Pinto: 14:10 Yeah.

Helping farmers grow hemp

Matt Baum: 14:11 Let’s say I’m a tobacco farmer, and I contact you guys, and I say, “I want to grow hemp,” what is step one? When you guys come in, what do you tell me is step one?

Jane Pinto: 14:20 Sure. Step one is I would put you immediately with David Hill, Dave Armstrong and Michael Bowman because that’s their lane. The farmer comes to us however they come, and then that that team, the First Crop Commons team talks to them about exactly what our program is. Here’s a copy of our contract. Here’s what we’re paying. Here’s what you’re going to get from us, and here’s what we need from you. We really talk this regenerative partnership.

Matt Baum: 14:53 You’re accepting some of the financial burden too to help the farmer get started.

Jane Pinto: 14:59 We accept some of the upfront cost of the seeds. This year, they paid half, we paid half, and then upon time of harvest, they would pay the other half. We’re working very hard to get our first harvest done and see where we are because our ultimate goal would be that we are seed providers to these farmers so that together we know their soil is ready and that their seeds are the best that are possible, and then we go through the growing process with them, then we go through harvest with them. They have to have their own people to do it, but we’re their partners and guides. Everybody is going to harvest and dry. Our first extraction facility, our First Crop Commons, first one is going to be up and running and doing its job in another month. The extractor arrives Friday.

Matt Baum: 15:58 Cool.

Jane Pinto: 15:59 The building is up and we’re ready to go. That’s a model we hope to replicate around the country.

Matt Baum: 16:04 Do you help with the other end as far as introducing the farmers to people that want … producers that want to make CBD or CBD products or is it just up to-

Jane Pinto: 16:15 No. We buy it.

Matt Baum: 16:16 You buy it.

Jane Pinto: 16:18 We buy everything from them, and they know when they sign the contract at the beginning of the season at planting, at getting the soil ready, we tell them we’re going to buy it from them at … Of course, there are all these conditions, and I don’t want to speak about things that aren’t my lane but-

Matt Baum: 16:41 Got you.

Jane Pinto: 16:42 … the efficacy of the product and all of that. We work together and all of that, but we buy their product, and then we have our own brands that we are bringing to market in January. Many people on our team, our brand developers and sales and marketing, talents from other industries, mostly food and skincare and all of that. I really feel like we’re in the right lane. We’re going to do pharma and skincare and topicals. In 2020, start with our food and really bring this beautiful transformative product to wellness and food too.

Matt Baum: 17:21 That is very cool. I’ve spoken to some people who weren’t happy with how the industry was working, so they went out and found farmers that were doing it right or they started their own farm. I really liked the idea that you guys are saying, look, we will come to you and help you get started and plant this, and then you sell it to us, and we’ll help you make money. That’s incredible.

Jane Pinto: 17:44 Yeah. Well, they get paid a good and fair, beautiful market price for their product that they deliver, that they harvest, and then they get 5% profit sharing. Everything we do with that product in the branding world-

Matt Baum: 17:59 That’s amazing.

Jane Pinto: 18:00 If we can grow this to where we believe we will, and we will grow it there, these farmers will have profit sharing with us. It’s not just what they grew, but it’s all the way to the shelf into the soul.

Matt Baum: 18:12 See, I don’t think there’s another crop or product or even manufactured product where the people that grew it or made the raw materials get anything on the backend. That is truly incredible.

Jane Pinto: 18:26 Thank you, Matt. We really feel excited about that. We feel like it is something we’re doing that is true respect and reciprocity for the farmers. We can’t live without them.

Matt Baum: 18:39 Again, bad capitalism but the right way to do it.

Jane Pinto: 18:44 Right. Good capitalism. Reciprocity is profitable.

Matt Baum: 18:48 We have to stop thinking of the evil capitalism as the good capitalism. Right?

Jane Pinto: 18:52 That’s just the way of … I hope and I believe it’s the way of the future. If we don’t do this for our planet and for each other, we won’t be here. I think people are waking up to this.

Matt Baum: 19:07 You said you’re working with several different farmers. What states are you guys in right now?

Jane Pinto: 19:12 This first year, we’re in Northern New Mexico and Colorado. We are having planning meetings this Thursday and Friday on where we’re going next. I believe we have a beautiful group of farmers in the Selma area, and I believe that will bring transformative healing on so many levels. I hope that’s our next big group of farmers.

Matt Baum: 19:42 That’s amazing.

Jane Pinto: 19:43 We’ve been talking with them, and they’re incredible people. That soil is beautiful, and that feels like regenerative practices and transformative acts on every level.

Matt Baum: 19:58 Wow. That’s amazing. You said your extractor is coming next week.

Jane Pinto: 20:03 Yes.

Matt Baum: 20:04 What kind of extraction are you guys going to be using?

Jane Pinto: 20:07 We’re using an extractor from Cool Clean. We really respect those guys, their practices, their technology and who they are. That’s CO2. We really want pure … I would say we’re more boutique artisan than some extractor that can do a whole state. We’re not one of those 100,000-square foot facilities. We’ll have small footprints in many places. Making a big difference is really how we feel our path will go.

Matt Baum: 20:46 That also allows to help more people locally as well as opposed to one big place with a few jobs. You can spread it out and spread the love, right?

Jane Pinto: 20:57 Yeah, definitely. We just want to share this with the farmers in their rural communities. I think we can make a big difference that way. I think we’ll really have a pure quality product, and we’re going to be certified organic at our different First Crop Commons where our extractors are, and we will definitely be partnering and be … We’ll be partners in communities. That’s what I think really matters.

Matt Baum: 21:29 You guys have quite the scheme going here. I like it. It’s undermining the way we think of farm to table, but it makes a whole lot of sense. You know what I mean? As opposed to just going and buying produce from people. You’re helping them to create it the way that you need it created to do what you need it to do and the responsible way for the land as well. That’s brilliant. It’s like guerrilla environmentalism, if you will.

Jane Pinto: 21:59 I hope so. I know that is our true intention. I know it’s how we are all moving forward and how we’re living and being. I believe it’s time for businesses like ours, and I know there’s many more, and I’m so happy about that. People are really looking at how to do things better.

The nurturing power of women in hemp

Matt Baum: 22:16 Women like you too. Don’t forget that, women-driven businesses, female-driven business popping-

Jane Pinto: 22:21 What?

Matt Baum: 22:27 I said women like you. Don’t forget that. It’s really important.

Jane Pinto: 22:30 Hey, listen. That’s right. I love my male brothers. I am someone who’s had a long, beautiful marriage. I understand that there’s been oppression with women, but there’s been oppression with men as well.

Matt Baum: 22:47 Sure.

Jane Pinto: 22:48 We have to just get in harmony, hold each other’s hands now, treat each other with a lot of respect. I believe the more female hearts that come forward and bring vision and just transformative soul companies to the world and bring their great brothers beside them and great sisters, man. We’re in good shape.

Matt Baum: 23:09 Absolutely.

Jane Pinto: 23:11 We’re going to be in good shape.

Matt Baum: 23:11 You know what? I think the men whine about it more than the women. I think you guys are way tougher than we are to tell you the truth.

Jane Pinto: 23:18 Highly possible, Matt, but you guys are pretty great too.

Matt Baum: 23:22 Hey, we do our best. As poor, dumb old boys, we do what we can, but it’s very cool. I haven’t been in the hemp world very long. I’m learning along with people that listen to this show. This is about my hemp education. In meeting a lot of people, I cannot believe how many women are coming up in this industry, and I can’t speak to the rest of the agriculture industry, but it sure does seem like there is a much larger percentage of female-driven farmers, businesses, producers, lawyers even that are behind the hemp industry. I think it’s fantastic.

Jane Pinto: 23:57 Well, I don’t think it’s by mistake. I think there is a divine universal power. If women are the … They bring love first, nurturing, fierceness. They’re just pure and true. That’s what this plant is. It makes total sense to me that if this is a transformative plant that comes from heart and humility that it would be drawing women around the globe and will continue to because that’s what we care about. We care about being involved in those kinds of things. Mother Earth is calling us all to do this. I believe we will see great women in hemp, great women.

Matt Baum: 24:43 Sister Jane, it sounds like you’re doing it the right way, and I’m glad you’re out there. I don’t want to take up anymore of your time. This has been excellent. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Jane Pinto: 24:51 Thank you.

Matt Baum: 24:51 I’m glad we got it figured out finally. You said-

Jane Pinto: 24:55 Yeah, we got it figured out.

Matt Baum: 24:56 Yeah. You said January is when we can start looking for your products.

Jane Pinto: 25:01 Absolutely. We’ll definitely be … First Crop will be out as soon as we can and completely in gratitude to everyone in this hemp world who’s helping each other, and we’ve had so much help from so many people in the industry, and you’re one of them. Look at you doing these stories.

Matt Baum: 25:18 Yeah. Someone has got to get the good word out there.

Jane Pinto: 25:21 Thanks so much.

Matt Baum: 25:22 Ministry of Hemp will be sure to follow you. When your stuff does start coming out, we’ll be sure to talk about it on the website. I’d love to have you back on when you guys are getting ready to actually go to market and we’ll talk again.

Jane Pinto: 25:34 Thank you so much.

Matt Baum: 25:35 Absolutely. Jane, you have a wonderful evening. Okay?

Jane Pinto: 25:39 Okay. You too. Be well.

Matt Baum: 25:40 All right, thank you.

Final thoughts on women in hemp

Matt Baum: 25:49 Jane is one of an ever growing population of women in the hemp business. I don’t know if it’s because the world has changed and more women are getting involved in agriculture and that’s why I’m noticing so many women working in the hemp industry, but it really is encouraging. It’s women like Jane that are going to help keep this business in check and make sure that farmers are growing at the right way and producers are handling the product responsibly and treating it with respect. Thank you again to Jane and First Crop. You can find out more about Jane Pinto and First Crop in the notes for this very show.

Matt Baum: 26:31 That about does it for this episode of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, but I want to thank everybody that listens in and helps out. As always, you can call us and leave your hemp related questions at (402) 819-6417. I’m getting ready to do another hemp Q&A show with Kit, the editor-in-chief of Ministry of Hemp. You may have heard some of the earlier ones we did. They’re a lot of fun and you guys have such great questions. If you don’t want to call in, you can always email me, matt@ministryofhemp.com or you can drop your question on Twitter at Ministry of Hemp or Facebook\ministryofhemp. We want to hear from you guys. If you like the show, please give us a star rating. Give us a thumbs up, whatever works best at your favorite podcast app, but it really does help get this information into the ears of people that want to hear it.

Matt Baum: 27:44 The Ministry of Hemp Podcast is written, produced and edited by me. When you do that, I really appreciate it. Thank you. As always, you can find a full written transcript for the show in the show notes along with all of our social media, our phone number, and any other links that I mentioned. They’ll all be right there.

Matt Baum: 28:04 Thanks again for listening and downloading, but for now, remember to take care of yourself, take care of others, and make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp signing off.

The post Women In Hemp & Hemp Banking Update (Podcast) appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

First, our host Matt Baum talks to Clark Wu, cannabis attorney, about why banks are still hesitant to handle hemp profits. Then, Matt talks with Jonathan Miller, General Counsel at the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, about developments in crop insurance for hemp farmers and what it means to the financial stability of the hemp industry.

We want to hear from you too. Send us your questions and you might hear them answered on future shows like this one! Send us your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, email matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind that phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. If you really want to help us out, we’d love for you to rate or review the show.

Thanks again for listening! Contact sales@ministryofhemp.com if you’re interested in sponsoring our podcast or other content on our website.

Win CBD for dogs from Charlotte’s Web

As Matt mentioned on the show, we’re running a giveaway with Charlotte’s Web. Three lucky readers will get a sample of their CBD for dogs.

To enter, like this post on Instagram and tag three of your friends. Then, subscribe to our newsletter. You can also read the complete contest rules here. Make sure you enter before September 30, 2019!

Good luck, and look on our Instagram at the end of the contest for a special discount code too.

More resources: Hemp farming and the hemp industry

Here’s some other articles we’ve published about hemp farming, hemp legalization, and the hemp industry:

• 2018 Farm Bill legalizes hemp in America
• Why are some truckers & CBD sellers still getting arrested over hemp?
• Why do smaller farmers grow hemp?

Hemp insurance and banking with hemp: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the entire written transcript for this episode:

Matt Baum: 00:03 Welcome to the Ministry of Hemp podcast. My name is Matt Baum. I’m your host, and today we’re going to talk about money. If you’ve been paying attention, then you’ve probably heard that hemp is the new go-to cash crop for American farmers. It’s going to save American farmers. It’s going to change the way they do business and that’s true. It probably is going to change a lot of things, but right now the single biggest impediment to hemp farmers, to hemp businesses, to anybody that wants to do anything in the hemp industry, is moving your money around.

Matt Baum: 00:41 While the 2018 Farm Bill made hemp legal to grow in all 50 states, there are still some states fighting this like Idaho and South Dakota, and it may never be legal there the way that they’re going, but it is legal just about everywhere else and a lot of states are writing their own hemp programs right now. The biggest issue at the moment, big American banking doesn’t trust hemp. It sees an industry that is not fully regulated, that is currently in its infancy and just not worth putting their money behind. But there are some people that are working to change that, and today we’re going to talk to two of them.

Talking hemp law with Clark Wu

Matt Baum: 01:29 Meet Clark Wu.

Clark Wu: 01:30 Well, my name is Clark Wu. I’m a cannabis attorney with Rose Law Group here in Scottsdale, Arizona. We’ve been with the medical marijuana industry here since its infancy.

Matt Baum: 01:41 Clark and his partners have been fighting the good fight for a long time and he sat down to talk about the problems with banking and hemp in America.

Clark Wu: 01:51 We were a big part of the movements as well as the legislation that led to the medical marijuana program here. And we’ve also been with the hemp program here since its infancy. So we’re very connected in the industry, not just in Arizona but across the United States. We work regularly with cannabis clients in the medical marijuana industry as well as hemp clients and helping them resolve the various issues that’s associated with it.

Matt Baum: 02:16 So right now Arizona seems to be… I’ve talked to a couple of lawyers that are from Arizona and it seems to be a hotbed for you guys. Why is that? And why Arizona?

Clark Wu: 02:28 Yeah, there’s a lot of things going on here, which is very exciting stuff. We currently just wrote out our own hemp program in about June or early July of this year. Because of that, we’re finally rolling out industrial hemp licenses, which allows individuals in the hemp industry to grow, cultivate and sell hemp here now in the States. Well, the program is very new, but at the same time it’s been a very big development. It’s been a long time coming and we’re excited about that. And the backdrop of that, we also have legislation pushing for adult use. Now that bill is still in its early stages, so it’s yet to be seen what will come from that, but various exciting developments, nonetheless.

Matt Baum: 03:13 So is this hemp or hemp and cannabis?

Clark Wu: 03:16 Hemp and cannabis.

Matt Baum: 03:17 Oh really?

Clark Wu: 03:18 Yeah. So, we have a hemp program which just rolled out. We have our new Hemp Bill that came out earlier this year, around May or so, that’s when the rules first went into place, which established the hemp program here. But also, at the same time, we now have adult use legislation that’s running through our legislature, so hopefully we’ll see something come out of that as well.

Hemp and the war on drugs

Matt Baum: 03:41 Now, this is a little off topic from what we’re going to be talking about, but-

Clark Wu: 03:43 Of course.

Matt Baum: 03:44 … this is interesting and I want to get a little more of it. Let me ask you, is the cannabis coming hand in hand with it because the state realizes that it’s going to be very difficult to only legalize one without the other?

Clark Wu: 04:00 There might be a component of that. One is just… Since the Hemp Bill went into effect last year, the 2018 Federal Hemp Bill which legalized hemp across the United States, it created this huge gray area, because if you look at it from a practical standpoint, what’s the difference between hemp and marijuana? They all fall under the cannabis company.

Matt Baum: 04:23 Right.

Clark Wu: 04:24 And the only real distinction is the level of THC that’s involved in these plants. But if you’re looking at it from the outside, from someone that’s not in the industry, you can’t tell the difference.

Matt Baum: 04:35 You’re looking at a leaf, basically.

Clark Wu: 04:37 Yeah. And because of that it’s… Yeah, definitely. You’re looking at the same plant. It all looks like weed, so to speak. And because of that, there’s been issues around the United States in terms of how states are implementing their hemp programs because the Federal government, it kind of left it up to each state to determine how they want to enact their own hemp program. But there’s so much confusion right now in terms of the implementation of the hemp programs, how to deal with medical marijuana, in connection with that and how it’s treated as a whole. So, I think a lot of this legislation that’s popping up, well, one, it’s a movement that’s been coming for some time.

Matt Baum: 05:15 Right.

Clark Wu: 05:15 And two, it’s an effort to kind of reconcile all these legal gray areas and zones that’s been created by the new legislation that’s been rolling out this past year or so.

Matt Baum: 05:25 Now, I’m not a lawyer, obviously, that’s why I’m talking to you, but it would seem to me that legalizing marijuana takes care of 100% of the issues that you would also have with hemp. You don’t have to worry about the confusion. You don’t have to worry about transport. I mean, you just basically have to make sure this is marked as hemp and this is marked as marijuana. Right?

Clark Wu: 05:48 That would definitely resolve a lot of these issues. That would make my job a lot easier. So-

Matt Baum: 05:55 So, this is job security, right now, is what you’re saying.

Clark Wu: 05:58 Yeah.

Hemp banking and credit card processing

Matt Baum: 05:58 Okay. Well, that’s good. I’m just glad you’re working. Now, Clark, one of the biggest problems that is affecting hemp growers and hemp resellers is that electronic payment processors and banks don’t want to deal with hemp money because they’re terrified of the same stuff we’re talking about with the legalization and how it’s going to work. What are you guys working on right now to… I don’t even know… Like, not de-stigmatize, but get them to even consider taking these payments, I guess, is the right term.

Clark Wu: 06:34 Yeah. I guess, before we get there, we have to understand what the problem is and why are banks so hesitant to… or, the financial industry, why are they still hesitant to get involved with the hemp industry?

Matt Baum: 06:47 So let me ask you that-

Clark Wu: 06:47 What are the-

Matt Baum: 06:48 …. for your opinion. What do you think is… Why are they so hesitant? What’s the biggest problem?

Clark Wu: 06:51 Yeah. Well, the biggest problem has to deal with two types of legislation. One is the federal money laundering statutes that have to deal with cannabis. So, under these statutes that states that any transaction involving the proceeds of the manufacture, distribution or sale of marijuana to be illegal, even though the transactions are legal within the states or the county, which then incur such as medical marijuana programs and the various states where they’re illegal.

Clark Wu: 07:20 And the second part of that is banking regulations. Under current federal banking regulations, they prohibit what’s called depository institutions, which are FDIC insured banks, thrifts and credit unions from entering into financial transactions or accepting account relationships involving illegal proceeds. And in addition to that, the US Department of Treasury requires any transaction with illegal marijuana proceeds to be reported by following a suspicious activity report with the federal government.

Matt Baum: 07:54 Good Lord.

Clark Wu: 07:55 Yeah, yeah.

The 2018 Farm Bill and hemp banking

Matt Baum: 07:57 So, in a nutshell, it’s legal. Don’t worry about it. The Farm Bill made it all legal, but there’s still all these other rules. Why does the Farm Bill not supersede this stuff? That’s what I don’t understand.

Clark Wu: 08:09 So here’s the thing. So under the Hemp Bill, hemp is now legalized, which is… Oh, and that is true, and you would think that pursuant to that, banks would be more open towards working with cannabis-related companies, or I mean hemp companies. However, the issue comes with a huge risk in liabilities still with working in the hemp industry because under the law, the only distinction between hemp, which is now legal and marijuana, which is still a controlled substance, is the THC threshold. And the legally permissible threshold is 0.3%. Now, as any grower would tell you, it’s hard to pinpoint precisely cultivates, hemp products or any type of cannabis products to a certain degree of precision regarding THC that’s in these plants.

Clark Wu: 09:03 So, because of that, you carry the risk of, even though you’re dealing with hemp, which is technically legal, what if some of the plants that you’re currently cultivating or some of these products that you’re currently manufacturing, exceed that threshold, and now all of a sudden you have proceeds with what supposedly came from hemp transactions that are legal, it’s illegal now because now it’s proceeds from marijuana, because it exceeded that THC threshold, and banks don’t want to deal with that. That’s a huge risk, that’s a huge liability for them.

Matt Baum: 09:35 So it just basically comes down to how do we protect our investment? And they’re looking at it right now and saying, “Well, you can’t. There isn’t a good way to do that.” So it’s not a matter of, “We’re too conservative,” or, “We don’t think the laws are correct.” It’s more, “How do we protect ourselves and how do we protect our own money?”

Clark Wu: 09:51 Correct.

Matt Baum: 09:52 We don’t see a clear way to do that right now.

Clark Wu: 09:55 Yeah. And you know, banks have taken positions on this. So last April Edline, which is a payment processing subsidiary of the US Bank announced that it would stop working with businesses who deal with CBD, and other banks and institutions that follow suit, which leaves many business owners that’s in the hemp industry scrambling to find alternate providers.

Matt Baum: 10:17 Right. You know-

Clark Wu: 10:18 … entrepreneurs-

Matt Baum: 10:19 Is that just a matter of, they see what one company is doing and they go, “All right, these guys are big. Let’s do it, too.” They just follow suit?

Clark Wu: 10:26 I mean, that might be a part of it, but at the same time, the issues and the risks that are associated, it’s the same. So, these large institutions are doing this because to basically they’re covering and protecting themselves. But the industry as a whole, sales seems very hesitant to make this transition over and working with members of the hemp industry, even though now, the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp. So, I know, that’s insane.

Matt Baum: 10:54 It’s… I keep shaking my head. This is an audio podcast, but I’ve just like shaking my head while you’re saying that stuff.

Why won’t banks work with hemp?

Clark Wu: 11:01 Yeah. Because, I mean, you keep at it from a business perspective, right? What these banks, and usually, as of right now, in the hemp industry, there’s some large corporations out there working in hemp, but they’re generally still smaller operations compared to other types of businesses. And because it’s a small business, it’s a relatively low cost for a financial institution to let them go, compared to the risk of a much higher cost if the products that these companies are selling turn out to exceed federally allowed THC thresholds, which in some cases is illegal and it drags these banks down.

Matt Baum: 11:34 So they’re hedging their bet. They’re just hedging their bets right now and saying, “We’re going to wait, see until somebody big gets in and see how they do it and see how it’s handled, and then we’ll open the flood gates.” Is that what happens next?

Clark Wu: 11:47 I mean, I think there’s a lot of wait and see right now for the financial institutions in the industry to see what’s going on. But at the same time there are things going on in the background on the federal level, which it’s promising and it will potentially offer… Well, hopefully resolve all of these banking issues for members of not only the hemp industry, but the legal cannabis industry at least as a whole. And one of these things is something I’m sure you’ve already heard about and you might have even discussed on your podcast, but it’s the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, or the SAFE Act for sure.

Matt Baum: 12:25 Right.

Clark Wu: 12:27 And under this Act it would prohibit federal banking regulations from terminating deposit insurance, analyzing or even discouraging banking institutions from providing financial services to legitimate cannabis-related entities or service providers which encompass medical marijuana companies as well as hemp members of the hemp industry.

Matt Baum: 12:48 Now I would assume they’re going to have some pretty hardcore lobbying against that until such time that someone can either come up with a way that they can prove that the THC levels will always be the same, or, we can get marijuana to a point where it is legalized and such that it’s not an issue. Right?

Clark Wu: 13:08 Yeah, I think that’s a presentation of some of the challenges to this bill. I mean, in terms of the testing, I think there’s ways to work around that. An example would be looking at some of the state programs that rolled out, which require the mandatory testing of all hemp that’s being produced currently, or at least under those states’ programs. So, there’s already a push and a movement in certain states, at least, with mandatory testing and developing testing standards to ensure conformance and compliance with state and federal regulation to prevent issues such as this.

Matt Baum: 13:49 Sure. So come up with the testing standards first, show it to the banks, and then the banks are going to go, “Okay. I like that. We’ll put our money behind it.”

Clark Wu: 13:58 Yeah. I mean, from a practical standpoint, that’s something that businesses could do, or at least individuals in the hemp industry could do. I know we’re taking this one step ahead now, but that’s one thing that companies of the hemp industry could do to protect themselves. They could make sure that whatever products that they are currently working on or cultivating or if it’s other individuals, if they’re working with other individuals in the industry that they’re purchasing products from, that everything is properly tested and there’s proper certifications and you can present that to whatever financial institution that you might need lending services or banking services and provide that to them. You know, be transparent, be up front and hopefully that helps alleviate some of the banks’ concerns or whatever financial institution that you’re working with.

Matt Baum: 14:45 The whole thing just seemed so bizarre to me in the sense that, if you look at something like commodities markets, like pork belly, for example.

Clark Wu: 14:54 Yeah.

Matt Baum: 14:55 If pork belly is bad and people eat it, they can die. But if there is two percentage points too much THC in marijuana or in hemp and someone takes it as an additive, literally nothing happens to them. It’s so ironic and ridiculous.

Hemp, laws and the banking industry

Clark Wu: 15:20 Yeah. I mean, unfortunately we’re just… Well, we’re in a very exciting time regarding cannabis and hemp legislation. But we’re also in a very confusing time.

Matt Baum: 15:31 Right.

Clark Wu: 15:31 You know, they have velcroed a lot of gray areas and we’ve had this existing Controlled Substances Act, which classified cannabis a Schedule 1 drug. That’s, frankly, it’s outdated. [crosstalk 00:15:45]

Matt Baum: 15:45 It’s archaic.

Clark Wu: 15:46 [inaudible 00:15:46] Yeah. And it leaves a lot of issues and there’s steps that’s being taken. You kind of address these things at both the federal and local level or state level, I should say, and I think it’s just a matter of time. But as of right now, because of all the gray areas and the discrepancies between the federal regulations and all the state laws, to be frank, you have these issues. Individuals who are working in the cannabis and hemp industry are unable to get the banking solutions that they need and that creates a lot of issues. If you can’t go to the legitimate, and what would you consider regular financial institutions for your banking needs, you often have to operate as a strictly cash business. That creates security risks, that creates issues. That creates transparency problems-

Matt Baum: 16:34 What could be the problem there? I don’t understand.

Clark Wu: 16:38 Yeah.

Matt Baum: 16:39 Yeah. So, they know the money is there. They’re waiting for basically the insurance that if we put our money here, we know that there will be a return and not as much risk based on gray areas in laws where crops could be seized, millions of dollars could vanish. And once they feel comfortable with that, then electronic payment companies will follow suit, I assume.

Clark Wu: 17:04 Correct. And that’s something that the SAFE Act is hoping to redress because under the specific sections of this Act, it would effectively amend the Federal Anti-Money Laundering Statutes that’s currently prohibiting banks from dealing with cannabis-related cash, and there’s also protect amongst other activities, real estate, financing of marijuana products, broker dealer, custody of cannabis-related stocks, and the receipts of dividends even paid on those stocks. So, it opens the door to a lot more possibilities.

Matt Baum: 17:36 Right. So, best case scenario, I know this isn’t your job and no one’s going to hold you to this. What do you think? What’s a timeline look like here? Best case scenario.

Clark Wu: 17:45 Well, yesterday, we actually… I saw a statement from Rob Nichols, I think that is his name, who’s the head of the American Banking Association.

Matt Baum: 17:55 Okay.

Clark Wu: 17:55 And he predicted that as early as September, but no later than October, the current SAFE Banking Act will pass the full house of representatives by a bipartisan majority.

Matt Baum: 18:06 This September, October? Like, what, we’re living in now?

Clark Wu: 18:10 [crosstalk 00:18:10] That’s what we’re living in right now.

Matt Baum: 18:11 That is shocking.

Clark Wu: 18:13 That is shocking to me, but I mean, I’m optimistic. There’s currently 206 co-sponsors in the House right now.

Matt Baum: 18:20 Wow.

Clark Wu: 18:20 And 26 of those including Republicans. So, this is something that has support from both sides of the aisle. It looks very promising, and it’s still, even if it passes the House, it still need to go through the Senate.

Matt Baum: 18:32 Of course.

Clark Wu: 18:33 So that’s going to take time and it’s going to take time for implementation of these laws. So, in a perfect world, maybe by the end of next year, we’re going to start seeing some changes. Well, maybe some implementations of this Act if it actually passes, but that’s still a ways to go.

Matt Baum: 18:52 Right.

Clark Wu: 18:53 So in the meantime, we are still kind of wait and see. Unfortunately we’re still like in a wait and see mode, but I feel promising about this Bill.

Matt Baum: 19:06 You’re the first person that I’ve talked to that’s been this optimistic and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Normally it’s a lot of head scratching. “Well, we’re doing our best, but sometimes it’s like beating your head against the wall.”

Matt Baum: 19:19 Clark, with guys like you on the frontlines fighting, I feel like maybe this is going to happen sooner than we thought. Thank you for your work, man. Like, seriously, it seems like an amazing minefield that you guys have to maneuver through, but you’re figuring it out and that’s all we can ask.

Clark Wu: 19:36 Yeah. And we’re here to help. We’ve been, not just myself, but the team I work with in my firm, we’ve been working in this industry for a long time. We’ve been deeply involved, like I said before, we were deeply involved in the enactment of the medical marijuana program as well as the hemp program here. So this is something that it’s very close and dear to us and that we want to see done, personally, as these changes, it’s finally be undertaken in the industry while, exciting as it is, I think is long due.

Matt Baum: 20:08 Yeah, absolutely. If this is going to be an industry, then we need to make it an industry. We can’t go halfway and it’s time for everyone to get on board and accept, this is the future, this is where we’re going. Now let’s figure it out so we can do it legally.

Clark Wu: 20:23 Right.

Matt Baum: 20:33 Thanks again, Clark, for coming on the show and I’ll have links to his law firm and some other helpful stuff in the show notes, but he brings up a really good point. Right now it’s a scary thing for the banking industry to put their money down on.

Jonathan Miller on hemp insurance

Matt Baum: 20:51 But there is something that might make them feel better about it. Betting on an unproven industry is very scary and the one thing that could put the banking industry’s mind at ease is crop insurance. I was lucky enough to sit down and talk with somebody on the very front lines of the subject. This is Jonathan Miller.

Jonathan Miller: 21:13 I’m the General Counsel of the US Hemp Roundtable.

Matt Baum: 21:16 US Hemp Roundtable is amazing and very important. They’re a group of people representing dozens of companies that come from every link of the hemp product chain, from seed to sale and all of the industries, major national grassroots organizations. They were key to the passage of the bipartisan legislation in the US Congress that established hemp federally as an agricultural commodity and permanently removed it from regulation as controlled substance. In short, they’re for real.

Jonathan Miller: 21:48 Yeah. So, we recognized early on how critical it was going to be to get a crop insurance for hemp farmers. For the first several years of the program there has been no crop insurance and farmers are taking tremendous risk that some natural disaster that’s going to happen that would wipe out his crop and not get paid for it. And so when we were meeting early on with Senator McConnell about language in the Farm Bill, we told him this is a big priority. We gave him some language to use to help ensure there could be crop insurance and he put it in there, so now it’s been authorized. The USDA, as you probably know, recently announced that they were going to offer whole farm insurance, which is great. But the trouble with whole farm insurance is that it’s only available to a select number of farmers that are generally larger farms that have been in hemp for four or five years from the very beginning, and-

Matt Baum: 22:57 Sure.

Jonathan Miller: 22:58 … not available to them. So we are working with AgroLogic, which has been given the go ahead from the USDA to set up pilot programs for crop insurance that every farmer could apply for. And they, right now, are finalizing their plans in terms of what states will be participating in the pilot program and we’re trying to help them collect information, data on yields and pricing and production so that they can put together the strongest pilot program possible.

Matt Baum: 23:37 So AgroLogic takes all the information that you are giving them. They put together how it’s going to work roughly and then they present it to the government and say, “This is what we want to try and do.”

Jonathan Miller: 23:49 Exactly.

Hemp crop insurance for smaller farmers

Matt Baum: 23:50 Okay. So let me ask you, when you said whole farm insurance, like that’s only going to cover a few. This would cover anyone that wants to grow basically any amount of hemp on their farm?

Jonathan Miller: 24:01 Yeah. No, I mean, not everybody’s going to qualify. You will have to… Again, there’s going to be some qualifications for getting insurance just like some people can’t get the car insurance-

Matt Baum: 24:18 Sure.

Jonathan Miller: 24:18 … Or the like.

Matt Baum: 24:19 Sure.

Jonathan Miller: 24:21 But the vast majority of farmers would be able to apply and to secure this kind of insurance. It’s precisely what is needed and we’re excited to be part of that solution.

Matt Baum: 24:34 Yeah. So the pilot project launches and a few states will be involved and then from there they monitor the pilot project, and if it looks like it’s working, does it become adopted by all 50 states? Is that just basically, like, “Looks good, we’ll do it.”

Jonathan Miller: 24:49 Well, I think, it really, insurance is done on a state by state basis.

Matt Baum: 24:54 Right.

Jonathan Miller: 24:56 And probably you’re going to see… I think the best case scenario is that in 2020 we have 10 or 12 or whatever, and then in 2021 maybe that expands to 25 to 30. Who knows? And certainly you’re not going to be able to get crop insurance in South Dakota, Idaho or Mississippi where it’s illegal. And in a state like Texas that just started, it’s going to take some time to… at least a year to be able to develop the data because as you know, growing hemp in Texas is going to be quite different from growing it in Montana.

Matt Baum: 25:34 Of course. Yeah.

Jonathan Miller: 25:36 I think that you’ll be seeing this roll out over the next couple of years. And then ultimately, if all those states pass bills that you’ll see in all 50 states, but they’ll probably take a little time for that.

Protecting the hemp industry nationwide

Matt Baum: 25:47 Sure. Now, do you think that this is the last major impediment to getting the banking systems into saying, “Okay, this is a lot more legit. Now that we know that these crops are insured, we’re not so afraid to put our money into the system.”

Jonathan Miller: 26:07 I think we still have other challenges for banking and that remains to be one of our biggest concerns.

Matt Baum: 26:14 Sure.

Jonathan Miller: 26:17 I think we need to get past these, the FDA guidance on CBD for farmers that are wanting to grow crops for CBD. There still are banks that are anxious about what the FDA has to say about that. There still is a lot of confusion in the marketplace. I think I’ve told John on your show before, I joke that my name is Jonathan “Hemp is not Marijuana” Miller. It’s actually [inaudible 00:26:46] But by doing this, and to be precise, it’s called multi-peril crop insurance. That’s the way to level the playing field so that all farmers can have access to it. This will be a tremendous leap forward, and should give banks and any other financial lenders a lot more competence that it’s a worthwhile investment.

Matt Baum: 27:12 Fair enough. That’s great. So best case scenario, you think two years? Three years? I mean, we’ve got insurance for everybody and it’s accessible and more and more farmers can come in and go, “Maybe it’s not as big of a risk as I thought.”

Jonathan Miller: 27:29 Yeah. If you saw that op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by South Dakota’s governor, I’m… I don’t know whether South Dakota is going to come on board [crosstalk 00:27:38].

Matt Baum: 27:38 Yeah.

Jonathan Miller: 27:41 Idaho has also been quite a problem but-

Matt Baum: 27:43 And it’s just education? And you really… it just comes down to education and letting these old thinkers know, like, “You’re just wrong. You’re just wrong about this,” basically.

Jonathan Miller: 27:55 Oh yeah. But, yeah, I mean, I would think that it will take over the next three year period, you’ll see if not universal, you’ll see overwhelming access to it.

Matt Baum: 28:07 And I would guess the more farmers that are getting into this now that there is crop insurance would put even more pressure on states like Idaho and South Dakota when they come to them and say, “Well, we want to grow this.”

Jonathan Miller: 28:19 Yeah.

Matt Baum: 28:19 I mean, if nothing else, now that it’s not as big of a risk as it was, it should be more accessible. And if it’s more accessible in other states and they see them making money, I mean, hey, it seems like the governors should follow, I would guess, but who knows?

Jonathan Miller: 28:38 No, I completely agree.

Closing thoughts: Banking, insurance, and legal hemp

Matt Baum: 28:48 Again, we find ourselves in this head spinning place where hemp is legal and we are encouraging farmers to grow it. But it is still a huge risk and until we can figure out these hurdles in banking and crop insurance, it’s going to be scary. There’s a lot of people that have already invested their time and their money in doing this and they are truly pioneers and they are working with people like Clark Wu and Jonathan Miller to develop hemp programs and to show the banking industry and the electronic payment industry and the insurance industry that this is not only a viable commodity, but it is the future and it’s coming, whether you like it or not. So let’s put our heads together. Let’s write the legislature that’s needed. Let’s pay taxes on this. Let’s do this the legal and correct way, and let’s take the burden off the farmer.

Matt Baum: 29:40 Let’s take the burden off the small businessmen and let’s make some money on hemp as a country. Keep in mind, and I cannot repeat this enough, this is a plant that the 2018 Farm Bill signed by both Republicans and Democrats, possibly one of the only things that they can reach across the aisle and agree on. Both sides came together and agreed it should be legal, farmers should be able to grow it, it should not be illegal to transport it through any state, looking at you, South Dakota, looking at you, Idaho, and no hyperbole, hemp is unique in the fact that it can be used for seed, for stocks, for flowers, for so many different things, unlike any other crop that farmers are growing in America right now. Hemp is a perfect way for farmers to make money and do their land a favor, and we’ll talk more about that in future shows. We just need to get the banking industry to recognize this and remove the risk from the farmers and the small business people that are trying to change the world.

Matt Baum: 31:04 Thanks again to Clark and Jonathan for not only fighting the good fight but coming on the show and spelling out what could be some pretty boring topics in a way that we can all understand it. I’ll have links to both of their sites and their law practices in the show notes along with some other really helpful hemp links. Thanks again to everybody that has supported this show so far. If you’re enjoying what you hear, the best thing you can do is go to iTunes and leave a star rating or a written review. It really, really helps to put this information in the ears of people that not only want to hear it but maybe need to hear it.

Matt Baum: 31:40 Speaking of that, we want to hear from you. You can call us at 402-819-6417 and you can leave a message with any of your hemp related questions, where I do a Q&A show every once in a while when I collect enough of your questions. And Kit, the editor-in-chief of ministryofhemp.com and myself, answer them right here on the show. It’s so much fun. If you can’t call us, you can also send an MP3 to matt@ministryofhemp.com or just email me your questions at mattadministrativehemp.com. You can also hit us up on Twitter @MinistryOfHemp, or Facebook/MinistryofHemp. Speaking of ministryofhemp.com go there every day to see the articles that Kit is publishing.

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Matt Baum: 33:18 The Ministry of Hemp podcast is edited and produced by me. So if you like it, let me know. It makes me feel good. Lets me know that I’m not just talking to myself here. It’s time for me to get out of here, so this is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp saying, take care of yourself, take care of others, and make good choices, will you? This is the Ministry of Hemp, signing off.

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