TAMPA, Fla. – New hemp production and manufacturing rules from the USDA went into effect this week.

As the industry continues to grow across the country and here in Florida, stakeholders are continuing to press for safety.

What You Need To Know

  • New rules from USDA on hemp production and manufacturing

  • 800 hemp cultivation permits given to Florida farmers this year

  • Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried supports the industry’s safe expansion

“So what we’re doing here is packing off our gummies,” Margaret Richardson said, as she gave Spectrum News a tour of Global Widget, a CBD manufacturing company in Tampa. 

Richardson is Global Widget’s chief compliance and legal officer.

The company’s gummies are infused with CBD and made on their own confectionery line.

“We know with confidence that the potency is accurate, and you’re going to get a safe and effective product when you take it,” she said.

The company makes 1,100 different kinds of products – and employs 225 people. 

It’s hoping to add 100 more by the end of the year, however all Global Widget’s success depends heavily on what happens out in the fields.

The company does not grow its own industrial hemp.

“We need our farmers to have the right type of industrial hemp, which means it has to have a low content of THC that is regulated by the USDA. So, that’s a federal rule. So, we have to make sure that our farmers comply with that,” Richardson explained.

What You Need To Know

It’s a big and growing business. Within the past year the state gave the green light to more than 800 hemp cultivation permits for Florida farmers.

Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried stopped by Global Widget as she pushes for the multi-million dollar industry to grow safely.

“This is part of the vision of creating a regulated market here in the state and the county – to make sure the products that people are utilizing and taking and putting into their bodies are safe, that they have gone through all of the appropriate tests and manufacturing standards. And they’re doing a fantastic job here,” Fried said.

“We want to see legislation and regulation come into the marketplace so that a consumer anywhere can be confident in taking a CBD product, whether it’s ours or someone else’s,” Richardson said.