Farm Bill 2026 and hemp: status of the bills that could change Dec. 11

The short answer. As of Oct. 3, 2026, no 2026 farm bill has become law, and the one version that has passed a chamber leaves the Dec. 11 THCA date untouched. The House passed H.R. 7567 on April 30; its hemp section changes how crops are tested, not what counts as hemp. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its own bill on Sept. 16. The standalone bills that would delay or replace the ban, including H.R. 7024, remain in committee.

WASHINGTON — This is the desk’s tracker for farm bill and hemp legislation that could change the federal date. Each update rewrites the board, and every change is logged at the bottom.

Status board, Oct. 3, 2026

Bill	What it would do on hemp	Latest action	Status
H.R. 7567, Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026	Total THC in grower testing; new “industrial hemp” grower designation; USDA lab accreditation. No change to the hemp definition or date.	Received in the Senate, May 19	Passed House April 30, 224-200
Senate “Farm Bill 2.0” (Agriculture Act of 2026)	The committee’s public statements do not mention hemp; the desk has not reviewed a reported text	Committee vote, Sept. 16	Awaiting Senate floor
H.R. 7024, Hemp Planting Predictability Act	Changes “365 days” to “3 years” in sec. 781, which would mean Nov. 12, 2028	Referred to Forestry and Horticulture Subcommittee, May 20	In committee; 40 cosponsors
H.R. 6209, American Hemp Protection Act of 2025	Repeals sec. 781	Referred to subcommittee, Jan. 13	In committee; 3 cosponsors
H.R. 9830, Lawful Hemp Protection Act	New definition at 1 percent total THC, FDA milligram limits, federal taxes	Referred to four committees, July 22	In committee; 7 cosponsors
H.R. 10079, Beverage Regulatory Parity Act	Exempts compliant hemp beverages from the 0.4 mg per-container cap	Referred, Aug. 10	In committee; 4 cosponsors

Latest actions and cosponsor counts are from the Congress.gov records for each bill, read Oct. 3.

What the House farm bill does to hemp

Section 10005 of the House-passed text amends the hemp production rules at 7 U.S.C. 1639p, 1639q and 1639r. It does not touch 7 U.S.C. 1639o, the definition that Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 rewrites. In plain terms:

1. Testing by total THC. State, tribal and USDA plans would test crops for “total tetrahydrocannabinol concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid)” instead of delta-9. That matches the new statutory definition taking effect Dec. 11.
2. An industrial hemp lane for growers. Farmers could designate themselves as growers of “only industrial hemp,” for fiber, grain and similar uses. Plans could then use visual inspection, certified seed or performance-based sampling in place of routine lab tests, with documents such as seed tags or sales contracts as proof.
3. The felony bar. For industrial-hemp-only growers, plans could drop the 10-year ban on people with drug felony convictions. A grower who knowingly produces a crop inconsistent with that designation would be barred for five years.
4. Lab accreditation. USDA, consulting the DEA, would set up its own process to accredit hemp testing labs.

Nothing in Section 10005 changes the Dec. 11 date for THCA flower, the 0.3 percent limit, or the 0.4 mg per-container cap.

Where the Senate bill stands

The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced Chairman John Boozman’s bill on Sept. 16. In his statement that day Boozman said “we need more of our colleagues’ votes to reflect the urgency of supporting farmers, ranchers, forest landowners and rural communities.” On Sept. 25 the committee said Boozman had committed to “negotiating in October in order to have a bill that can pass both the Senate and House of Representatives before the end of the year” (Senate Agriculture Committee). Neither of the chairman’s statements mentions hemp (Sept. 16 statement).

If House and Senate negotiators produce a final bill, hemp language could be added there. As of Oct. 3, none has been released.

The other route: the Dec. 11 spending deadline

The last delay did not come through a farm bill. It came through H.R. 6500, the stopgap spending law signed Sept. 2, whose Sec. 2019 moved THCA flower from Nov. 12 to Dec. 11. That stopgap expires on Dec. 11 too, so the next spending bill is the likeliest vehicle for any further change. Our hemp ban tracker follows that fight.

What to watch

Date	Event
October 2026	House-Senate farm bill negotiations, per Chairman Boozman
Nov. 3, 2026	Election; see our ballot report
Nov. 12, 2026	Non-natural cannabinoids leave federal hemp
Dec. 11, 2026	THCA flower leaves federal hemp; stopgap funding expires

For what the definition change means in practice, see Hemp vs. marijuana.

Tracker log

• Oct. 3, 2026. Tracker opened. Bill statuses read from Congress.gov; House text read from GovInfo.
• Sept. 25, 2026. Boozman says farm bill negotiations with the House will start in October.
• Sept. 16, 2026. Senate Agriculture Committee advances its bill.
• April 30, 2026. House passes H.R. 7567.

This is reporting, not legal advice.

Questions readers asked

Does the 2026 farm bill change the hemp ban?

Not the version that has passed a chamber. H.R. 7567, which the House passed on April 30, 2026, changes how state and tribal plans test hemp crops but does not amend the hemp definition or the Dec. 11 date, as of Oct. 3, 2026.

What is the Hemp Planting Predictability Act?

H.R. 7024, introduced Jan. 13, 2026, by Rep. Jim Baird of Indiana. It would change the hemp redefinition's effective date from 365 days to three years after enactment, which would mean Nov. 12, 2028. As of Oct. 3, 2026, it sits in a House Agriculture subcommittee with 40 cosponsors.

Could a farm bill still delay Dec. 11?

It could, if House and Senate negotiators add hemp language before final passage. The Senate Agriculture chairman says he wants to negotiate with the House in October. Federal stopgap funding also expires Dec. 11, so a spending bill is another possible vehicle.

When will the farm bill pass?

There is no date. The House passed its bill on April 30, 2026. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its own on Sept. 16, 2026; the desk found no Senate floor vote as of Oct. 3.

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