The provision, tucked into a congressional appropriations bill late last year, caps total THC in hemp-derived products at 0.4 milligrams per container. It is scheduled to take effect Dec. 11. The cap is intended to close a loophole that allowed manufacturers to chemically convert CBD into intoxicating compounds like delta-8 THC and sell them with little oversight. But growers and researchers say the limit is so low that it will also sweep up nearly all non-intoxicating CBD products, leaving farmers with nowhere to sell their harvest.

"It's a drastic reduction. I feel like it wasn't based on science, it was just a number someone threw out there," said Eric Crawford, who co-founded the Independence-based seed company Oregon CBD with his brother Seth. "Regulations in general are really important to protect consumers. But… it's way too far in one direction."

Hemp and marijuana are the same plant species, separated by legal definitions. Congress legalized hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, defining it as cannabis containing 0.3% or less THC by dry weight. CBD from hemp does not cause a high and is often used for chronic pain, inflammation, anxiety and seizures, but hemp naturally contains small amounts of THC — more than the new per-container cap allows in most finished products.

The loophole in the 2018 law allowed producers to convert CBD into delta-9 or delta-8 THC, chemicals that can intoxicate. That opened the door for hemp-derived THC drinks, gummies and other edibles to reach gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores, undercutting regulated cannabis businesses in states like Oregon and bypassing recreational cannabis bans elsewhere.

Jeffrey Steiner, director of Oregon State University's Global Hemp Innovation Center, said the new cap is already reshaping the industry. Oregon hemp acreage fell from 2,808 acres in 2025 to 1,668 acres in 2026, a 40.6% drop, according to Oregon Department of Agriculture data. Steiner expects acreage could fall further by 2027 if Congress does not act.

"Now with all this regulatory uncertainty … the folks that are growing hemp flower for CBD, there's no assurance anybody's going to buy it," Steiner said. "So there's really a big cutback on acres and the processing going on right now."

Steiner said he supports oversight of hemp products but wants Congress to distinguish between industrial hemp grown for fiber or grain, hemp grown for naturally occurring non-intoxicating compounds like CBD, and cannabis chemically converted to cause a high.

"Let's separate the intoxicating from the non-intoxicating and from the industrial [hemp]," he said. "[Congress] is trying to catch everything under one regulation, based on what the end product is, rather than saying what was the crop grown for."

Oregon CBD supplies an estimated 75% of the hemp seeds grown nationwide, according to the brothers, and also operates as a cannabis research lab. On a recent October day, they were preparing greenhouses on their 50-acre farm for the next crop, unsure whether a market will exist for the seeds.

"We don't know what else to do with ourselves. So we're plowing ahead," Seth Crawford said. "We're relying on the excess seed that we produced last season."

Alan Cleaver, founder of Columbia Basin Bioscience in Hermiston, is one of the few remaining hemp processors in the state and one of a handful of wholesalers selling CBD isolate to manufacturers. He said his product is nearly 100% pure, meaning manufacturers could technically use it to make CBD products with no THC. But he cannot produce enough to meet industry-wide demand.

"On the surface, it appears that it puts me in the driver's seat because I'm one of the few that can do this. But on the bigger picture, I think it destroys the business," Cleaver said. "If I'm in their shoes, am I gonna continue a business that only has one supplier or very few suppliers?"

Cleaver said he has not decided whether to plant hemp in the coming months. "I'm trying to figure out what my customers are doing," he said.

Despite the uncertainty, Seth Crawford said he has seen one positive shift: more people now recognize CBD and its benefits.

"It's a household name and people that you wouldn't expect to be using a cannabis product are concerned that they are not going to have access to their CBD product for themselves," he said.

The Crawfords are hoping Congress acts before Dec. 11 to let CBD manufacturers stay in business, but they are not counting on it.