2020 Complete Guide

Illinois residents have been sending a lot of money out of state in recent years. You see, back in 2014, the language in a US farm appropriations bill created some gray areas in hemp laws that prompted several states to instate hemp farming pilot programs. However, Illinois, once a major producer of hemp until it was criminalized in 1937, was not one of those states. As a result, millions of dollars being spent on CBD oil were flowing out to other states from which CBD products were being imported. 

That all changed in the summer of 2018 when, in anticipation of another upcoming federal farm bill, then-Governor Bruce Rauner signed the Industrial Hemp Act kickstarting the development of hemp regulations and licensing procedures in Illinois. 

Up until Governor Rauner signed the state’s industrial hemp bill into law, the only Illinois residents who were legally permitted to use CBD oil were those enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program. Moreover, only state-licensed marijuana growers were permitted to manufacture CBD oil. 

Later that year, Washington DC lawmakers passed the 2018 federal farm bill. The measure included language that officially and forever divorced hemp from marijuana laws and put hemp regulation in the hands of the states (where it belongs). The law also made CBD oil legal at a federal level. 

Because the state had gotten a head start with the 2018 Industrial Hemp Act, Illinois was one of the first to begin mass cultivation of the newly legalized crop. 

When J.B. Pritzker took over the governor’s office in early 2019, he asserted that getting the permitting process rolling in time for the 2019 growing season was a high priority for his administration. He also said that he expected the cultivation of hemp and the production of CBD oil and other hemp products to significantly boost to the state’s agricultural economy. 

For starters it would, to some extent, reverse the flow of money formerly being spent on imported CBD oil and other hemp products, keeping millions of dollars in the state economy. And on top of that, it could provide huge opportunities for exports of CBD and products such as hemp textiles and hemp protein. 

To give you some idea of the money at stake, according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, in 2017, corn brought in about $670 per acre and soybeans yielded roughly $560 per acre. These are currently the two most abundant crops in the state. For comparison, a good crop of CBD-rich hemp could be worth as much as $10,000 an acre or more.

“Industrial hemp is a potentially billion-dollar-a-year industry that Illinois will now take part in. From farming and processing to sales and exports, this will have a massive impact on our state’s economy.” — Gov. J.B. Pritzker

Sure enough, just one day after the Department of Agriculture published its final regulations the Pritzker administration announced that an online application for hemp cultivation permits was officially up and running. 

Now that the first crop is being harvested and processed, lawmakers in Illinois are focused specifically on developing measures to assure the purity, potency, and safety of CBD products. A proposed bill would require the state Department of Agriculture to develop lab testing requirements for all CBD products sold in Illinois. 

With all of this in mind, let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions related to hemp production and sales in the state of Illinois.