FAIRFIELD, Maine (WABI) – A hemp seed company based in Fairfield says it might have to close their doors this fall after a federal bill was passed last year to effectively ban their product.
They say not only will it impact them, it’ll have effects nationwide.
Bethany Mathieu began North Atlantic Seed Company in 2019. It’s a business that resells hemp seeds from around 75 farmers nationwide to several hundred brick and mortars, other farmers, and growers.
She’s grown it to over 20 employees, some her family and others that now feel like it.
“We’re very tight-knit, and anyone we’ve hired over the years, has become family because that’s just the culture here,” commented Mathieu.
In 2018, the federal government approved a bill that made any part of a cannabis plant under 0.3% THC considered hemp, making companies like Mathieu’s possible.
Last November, an exclusion to that was passed as a part of an appropriations bill to help reopen the government. She says any seed that comes from a parent exceeding that number is now illegal.
“I mean, it will shut our business down,” answered Mathieu. “The product that we sell, which is hemp seeds, will now be a Schedule I drug.”
The ban targets intoxicating hemp. North Atlantic sells both kinds, but at the seed stage, it’s hard to differentiate and trace.
“Unfortunately, you can’t tell the difference when you are looking at a seed,” added Mathieu. “It’s all the same thing. It’s all Cannabis sativa L.”
Mathieu says the business interacts with thousands of businesses nationwide that this will impact.
“It’s really sad to think about how many people are going to lose their income, their jobs, over this,” responded Mathieu. “It takes a lot of work to build a business, and you really put your whole identity and life into that.”
She says that her and many of her colleagues are fighting for the hemp seed industry that she says is treated like an afterthought in Washington.
“There’s a lot of hope that it will be changed, but what we came to realize pretty quickly that there’s really no voice for the seed industry in D.C.,” said Mathieu.
Mathieu helped begin the American Seed Innovation and Growth Alliance in January in hopes of adding a technical amendment before the law begins to be enforced in November.
“One thing we found is a lot of lawmakers didn’t even know this was a part of this bill because the appropriations bill is huge,” concluded Mathieu.
A link to a GoFundMe for that group can be found here.
