educate, advocate, facilitate

We represent the North American industrial hemp industry within its home market, and we are global advocates for its sustainable long-term growth and profitability. 

Following the 2018 removal of industrial hemp as a controlled substance, the US has become a global leader in the industrial production of hemp and in downstream product manufacturing. Hemp production is an emerging industry so there is often confusion and contradiction around the various hemp products. It is our role to cut through this by publicizing facts about the industry and seeking to establish unified standards and truth-in labelling. 

We assist members to enter the industry, educate consumers on the applications and advantages of industrial hemp and enable networking and the sharing of our resources.

By informing brands and consumers of the advantages and uses of hemp, we drive the demand which the industry, both in the US and globally, is growing to meet.  Our advocacy will ensure that the international framework for the industry is harmonized, to best facilitate that growth.

Our board is made up of leading international, federal, state, private industry, and government professionals whose expertise spans from hemp production, manufacturing and economics to marketing.

We work with US organizations including but not limited to the US Hemp Growers Association, Hemp History Week, the Midwest Hemp Council, the Texas Hemp Growers Association, the Southeast Hemp Association and Vote Hemp.  And we are working to establish ongoing relationships with the leading international and overseas market driven organizations in the hemp sector.

Our unique depth of resource gives us, as an organization, a practical and pragmatic view of the hemp industry in its entirety, and the ability to help shape its future. 

a unified approach for a growing industry

We promote hemp worldwide and believe a common approach to regulation and production will benefit a growing industry.  One that is important to many economies and is vital in the drive for sustainability in many sectors including agriculture, textiles, fuel, construction, housing and food.

As demand for hemp products grows, production will increase. For hemp and hemp products to be marketable worldwide, it is vital they conform to an agreed set of standards, harmonized to ensure consumer safety, confidence and to enable straightforward trade.

NIHC has identified three key areas of market development:

• Trade facilitation. Encouraging foreign buyers with education and information on US hemp, publicizing the US industry’s production of high-yield, fiber, and cannabinoid extract-use hemp.  We are leveraging trade mission and trade show opportunities and building commercial networks to enable a rapid and sustainable global industrial hemp market. 

• Standards and harmonization. Working to provide clarity to a market that is currently fragmented and largely made up of small-scale operations. Standardizing baling, chipping and measurement of oil impurities will lead to a harmonization of the market. Our ultimate objective is the global certification of all hemp-derived products.

• Industry wide transparency and communication. Raising awareness of the sustainability, historic, cultural and economic value of industrial hemp and tackling misconceptions about hemp and marijuana.  We highlight hemp’s role in driving climate-smart agriculture and its benefits as a low-input, low-water, low-management crop with deep root structure that improves soil conditions.

Our international communication makes the hemp industry much more visible. In the short-term we achieve this by ensuring US products, product availability and production standards are developed and shared. 

In the long term, we will partner with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to understand the supply chain in target markets, identify constraints to market access, and develop technical solutions for food, feed and supplement use along the value chain. 

We will also perform lifecycle assessments to publicize the sustainability credentials of hemp generally, and US hemp in particular.