A New Public Private Partnership, the Colorado Hemp Advancement & Management Plan (CHAMP), Is Set to Strengthen the State’s Leadership Position in Hemp
By Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural
With the passage in 2012 of marijuana legalization in Colorado, the hemp industry also got an early start in the state, and Colorado is now considered one of the country’s epicenters of hemp agriculture, manufacturing and production. To further that leadership position, Governor Jared Polis has created a unique new public-private initiative, the Colorado Hemp Advancement & Management Plan (CHAMP). His priority in establishing the CHAMP initiative is for “Colorado to remain an innovating force in the promotion of this high-value agricultural commodity,” says the CHAMP website.
Led by Betsy Markey, former Representative to U.S. Congress and current cabinet member of the Polis administration and Executive Director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, along with Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, CHAMP is a year-long statewide initiative that brings together state, local and tribal agencies, as well as industry experts in cultivation, testing, research, processing, finance, economics and marketing. The collaborative effort to help formulate a blueprint for Colorado’s hemp industry includes the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Governor’s Office, Department of Public Health and Environment, Department of Revenue, Department of Regulatory Agencies, Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Department of Public Safety, Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, Department of Higher Education, local governments and industry experts.
“We had one of the first hemp programs in the country,” Greenberg recently told Westword Magazine. “We’ve got pretty incredible experience in Colorado; our state is set up for it, and our governor is all about hemp. It’s a fantastic time to be doing this work in Colorado, so I think by all accounts, we are ahead of the game. Our intent is to stay there,” she said. In addition to serving as Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture, Greenberg is the former Western Program Director of the National Young Farmers Coalition.
When asked about how to handle issues like “hot” hemp (hemp that exceeds the legal limit of THC), Greenberg said, “Before CHAMP, we didn’t have an avenue to figure these things out, so we took leadership in creating a structure that will allow regulatory agencies, industries, Native tribes, learning institutions and farmers to sit around a table and actually develop answers. There are still so many questions about the X, Y and Z of hemp — like interstate transport [and] how the Department of Public Safety can determine what is hemp and what is not. All of those questions finally have a table to sit at,” Greenberg said.
“CHAMP… is a huge, coordinated effort that includes anyone who has a stake in the game across Colorado, but it’s also going to be open-sourced,” Greenberg continued. “We’ve been talking to other states that don’t have programs, and are offering our expertise. We don’t see this as something we need to hold on to and keep away from everyone. We’ve got a national and international industry with this now, and we can’t keep it within closed borders in Colorado. This is going to have to include interstate commerce, and we really see our creativity and desire to bring in thought leaders as ways to continue our leadership,” she added.
“One way to establish our leadership is getting our state plan into the USDA. We’re in close communication with the USDA to make sure they see us as a partner in this, and that we are a resource. Submitting our state plan is big here, just to make sure our state’s hemp program is still a leader. Another one is the larger CHAMP report, which will show what it takes to grow our hemp industry beyond the Farm Bill. This is a big-vision process,” Greenberg said.
The CHAMP initiative is divided into eight “Stakeholder Groups,” including Research & Development and Seed; Cultivation; Transportation; Testing; Processing; Manufacturing (Food Commodities); Marketing; and Banking and Insurance. The stakeholder groups are scheduled to meet this summer and fall. In addition, leaders of the CHAMP initiative will hold several public meetings, with the first scheduled for Friday, August 16, 2019, in Hesperus, CO. To RSVP for the public meeting and for more information, visit https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/agplants/champ-initiative.
Editor’s Note: Morris Beegle, Co-founder of We Are for Better Alternatives (WAFBA), producer of the NoCo Hemp Expo, Southern Hemp Expo, Hemp on the Slope, Hawaii Hemp Expo and the Let’s Talk Hemp Podcast and Newsletter, was appointed to serve on the CHAMP Marketing Stakeholder Group. In addition, Steven Hoffman of Compass Natural, public relations agency of record for WAFBA and Editor of the Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, was also named to the CHAMP Marketing Stakeholder Group.
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Steven Hoffman is Managing Director of Compass Natural, providing brand marketing, PR, social media, and strategic business development services to natural, organic, sustainable and hemp/CBD products businesses. Compass Natural serves in PR and programming for NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo, and Hoffman serves as Editor of the weekly Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, published by We are for Better Alternatives. Contact steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
