In November 2025, President Trump signed legislation to fund and reopen the federal government, ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. While many celebrated, Illinois hemp farmers were stunned. Buried in the legislation was a provision that fundamentally altered the federal definition of hemp, potentially making many hemp farming activities and products illegal once again.
The impacts of such policy changes are the focus of recent University of Illinois Springfield research examining the experiences of CBD hemp farmers in Illinois. In summer 2024, UIS Environmental Studies major Courtney Roberts and I conducted fieldwork that included interviews with farmers and industry stakeholders, as well as participation in legislative lobby days, meetings and events organized by hemp industry advocates. Our findings, published in a peer-reviewed academic journal in December 2025, help illuminate what is at stake for small hemp farmers amid ongoing regulatory changes and highlight the need for evidence-based policymaking developed in collaboration with farmers themselves.
The roots of the current regulatory debate trace back to the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp cultivation after decades of prohibition. The law defined hemp as cannabis plants and products containing less than 0.3% delta-9 THC, the primary intoxicating compound in marijuana. However, delta-9 THC is not the only psychoactive substance that can be derived from cannabis. Since 2018, a $28 billion industry has emerged around hemp-derived cannabis products, including delta-8 THC edibles and smokables, that are intoxicating but not regulated in the same way as marijuana.
In recent years, marijuana industry lobbyists and public health officials have pushed to close this regulatory loophole. Marijuana industry representatives argue that intoxicating hemp-derived products should be regulated like marijuana and cultivated only by licensed marijuana growers. Public health officials raise concerns that these products are widely available to consumers of all ages and often lack clear information about potency and effects. The provision added to the November 2025 spending bill resulted directly from these lobbying efforts.
The new law specifies that hemp plants must contain less than 0.3% total THC, rather than delta-9 THC alone, and limits hemp product potency to 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. The changes will take effect in November and are expected to effectively outlaw most intoxicating hemp-derived THC products. However, the new standards may also affect many widely used CBD products, depending on how they are manufactured and the amount of total THC they contain. While the bill provides an explicit exemption for industrial hemp grown for seed, fiber and oil, it leaves significant uncertainty for CBD-focused farmers.
Long before the 2025 spending bill, CBD hemp farmers in Illinois struggled with persistent confusion surrounding the legality and definition of hemp, regulatory inconsistencies across levels of government and what they perceived as insufficient state support.
The early years of CBD hemp agriculture in Illinois followed a boom-and-bust cycle. Many farmers struggled to process and market their crops, and some described these early experiences as financially disastrous. Numerous farmers and investors lost substantial amounts of money and exited the industry entirely.
Those who persevered, however, expressed pride in their ability to adapt. Over time, they developed improved growing, processing and marketing strategies and cultivated a loyal customer base. Many farmers strongly believe in the therapeutic benefits of CBD and reported that customers rely on their products to manage conditions like anxiety and chronic pain.
Despite operating legally for several years, CBD hemp farmers continued to face skepticism from peers in the agricultural community and suspicion from regulators and law enforcement. Regulatory ambiguities at municipal, county, state and federal levels left many farmers feeling their activities were still discouraged or implicitly forbidden. Farmers described having products seized by the local health department, being asked by police to produce hemp permits and struggling to prevent social media accounts and point-of-sale systems from being frozen due to confusion between hemp and marijuana.
In response, Illinois CBD hemp farmers worked diligently to legitimize their operations. They invested in compliance, engaged with regulators and lobbied state officials for legislative changes that would protect their existing investments and allow their businesses to grow. Many emphasized their desire to remain independent, small-scale operators within a cannabis industry that is rapidly consolidating and industrializing. Farmers generally support clear regulations on packaging, product purity and age restrictions for purchasing some hemp products. However, they fear that additional regulatory changes, including those contained in the new federal bill, could make it more difficult to produce legally compliant CBD products, limit the availability and quality of full-spectrum CBD products that maximize the therapeutic effects of cannabis and devastate small farmers, driving further consolidation in the industry.
Before the revised definition of hemp takes effect in November, there is a critical need for evidence-based policymaking that meaningfully incorporates the insights and experiences of small hemp farmers whose livelihoods are at risk.
Megan Styles is an associate professor of environmental studies at the University of Illinois Springfield. She studies how agricultural practices affect communities and the environment, with a focus on sustainable development.
