Harris Sliwoski attorney Jason Adelstone will be participating in CannaGen Sesh 3: Deeply Seeded, a webinar hosted by CannaGen on Thursday, January 22, from 11:00–12:00 PM PST. This session will focus on a significant but underappreciated change in federal hemp law that will materially affect cannabis genetics, seed commerce, and cross-border operations. Under recent amendments to the Farm Bill framework, which take effect in November 2026, the federal definition of “hemp” will no longer include viable cannabis seeds derived from plants that exceed 0.3% total THC on a dry-weight basis. As a result, marijuana-capable seeds will once again be treated as federally illegal marijuana.
Thankfully, the amendment maintained a critical loophole: tissue cultures and clones that test below 0.3% delta-9 THC remain outside the revised hemp definition. This distinction creates both compliance opportunities and operational risk, depending on how companies structure their genetics programs. Moving forward companies should proactively assess their genetics portfolios, supply chains, and risk exposure well before the grace period expires.
Breeders, seed producers, nursery owners, and tissue culture operators should all tune in. There’s a ton of misinformation out there. Let’s set the record straight. We’ll discuss in detail how to operate legally under these new laws, and how to plan ahead accordingly.
Participants are encouraged to submit questions in the comments during the live session, and Jason and the panel will address them as the discussion unfolds.
To preview what Jason will be discussing, please check out Jason’s blog post: “Hemp companies have one year to get marijuana genetics into or out of the us but a loophole may still exist“.
