Grocery store giant Kroger is lobbying the federal government on hemp—the first company of its kind to do so.
The supermarket chain, which has a large footprint in the midwest and south, indicated it is lobbying on “issues related to the regulation of topical products containing CBD oils and hemp derived products following the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill,” according to its Q4 2019 disclosures. (The company has lobbied on the issue since Q2 2019.)
Kroger, the largest grocer in the United States by revenue, put hemp-derived CBD products on shelves in more than a dozen states last summer. The company sells CBD products from companies like Charlotte’s Web at more than one thousand of its locations.
The hemp industry has boomed since President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized cannabis plants with equal to or less than .3% THC.
The public comment period on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s interim final rule on hemp closed last month, drawing some 4,600 responses. The USDA released the rule, which will shape the hemp industry across the US, last October. The Food and Drug Administration’s rules on CBD products are forthcoming.
(Read Cannabis Wire’s coverage of the comments sent to the USDA, and coverage of the FDA’s latest statement on CBD products.)
Kroger did not respond to a request for comment.
