In 1942, the US Department of Agriculture released a short film called Hemp for Victory, urging American farmers to grow as much hemp as possible for the war effort [1]. Imported fibres were scarce, and the US Navy needed rope [1]. Five years earlier, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 had all but shut hemp down. For the war, the rules were briefly set aside, and afterwards hemp went back to being treated like marijuana [1].
The film then vanished so completely that the government later denied making it. Copies only resurfaced in 1989, when two VHS tapes were donated to the Library of Congress [1]. It is now in the public domain [1], a strange relic of the time Washington begged farmers to grow a plant it had just banned.
Hemp's story in North America is full of these U-turns. It runs from royal orders in Jamestown to a Canadian grain crop, and it is still changing in 2026.
1619: grow hemp, that's an order
Hemp came to North America as a strategic crop. Rope, sails and cloth for a seafaring empire all needed fibre. In 1619, the Virginia Company ordered every Jamestown colonist to plant 100 hemp plants and the governor to plant 5,000, and paid to bring skilled hemp dressers over from Sweden and Poland [2]. Most colonists preferred to grow tobacco anyway [2].
Other colonies tried too. Massachusetts made every householder plant hemp seed in 1639 [2]. In 1682, Virginia even let farmers pay up to a quarter of their debts in hemp, and Maryland and Pennsylvania followed [2]. For a while, hemp was not just a crop. It was money.
1998–2018: Canada's long road back
Canada's modern hemp industry started in 1998, when the country created its first Industrial Hemp Regulations, allowing licensed farmers to grow hemp with very low levels of THC, the compound that causes a high [3].
Then, on 17 October 2018, Canada legalised recreational cannabis nationally, the second country in the world to do so, after Uruguay [4]. New Industrial Hemp Regulations took effect the same day under the Cannabis Act. Hemp must have less than 0.3% total THC in its flowering heads, and growers need a Health Canada licence [3].
2025: Canada chooses food
Canadian hemp has had its own boom and bust. During the CBD craze, farmers planted hemp for its flowers, from which CBD is extracted. That market has now largely collapsed in Canada. In 2025, only 516 hectares were grown for CBD and other cannabinoids, down from about 4,600 the year before [5].
Grain is winning instead. Of the 15,380 hectares of hemp planted in Canada in 2025, about 84% was grown for seed, used in hemp hearts, oil and protein powder [5]. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba grow about 92% of the national crop [5]. Hemp in Canada has become, above all, a Prairie food crop.
The number of licensed hemp growers has fallen from a peak of 1,269 in 2020 to 585 at the end of 2025 [5]. Fewer, larger and more food-focused farms are what a maturing industry looks like.
2026: the US changes the rules again
The United States legalised hemp in its 2018 Farm Bill, defining it as cannabis with no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC [6]. That wording left a loophole: products made with other intoxicating compounds from hemp could be sold legally, and a large market for them grew up [6].
In November 2025, Congress closed it. From 12 November 2026, the limit applies to total THC, and finished hemp products may contain no more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container [6]. Products with synthetic cannabinoids are excluded altogether [6]. The change is expected to alter the legal status of many hemp products now on US shelves [6].
In Canada, CBD comes from the cannabis plant, so it falls under the Cannabis Act. In 2025, Health Canada began consulting on a pathway to allow over-the-counter CBD health products through the natural health products system [7]. Until that pathway is in place, CBD products remain tightly controlled.
What it means for buyers
- Food is the safe bet. Hemp hearts, oil and protein are ordinary food ingredients, and Canada is a major, reliable source.
- Watch 12 November 2026. The new US definition could pull many hemp-derived cannabinoid products from the American market [6]. Check every product line before that date.
- Treat CBD as a regulated product. Canada's over-the-counter pathway is still being developed, so cross-border plans need specialist advice [7].
- Ask for the THC test. Certificates of analysis showing total THC are now the basic document for any hemp ingredient in either country [3][6].
From rope to hemp hearts
Hemp has been a royal order, a currency, a wartime necessity, an outlaw and a health trend. In Canada it has finally settled into something quieter and more durable: a Prairie crop that ends up on breakfast tables around the world. Victory, it turns out, looks like a bag of hemp hearts.
Nature Shire helps Canadian food and beverage brands reach buyers worldwide. Follow us on X at @NatureShire for more stories from the food system.
References
- Wikipedia, Hemp for Victory.
- Ernest L. Abel, Marijuana: The First Twelve Thousand Years, Part 4: Cannabis comes to the New World.
- Government of Ontario, Growing industrial hemp in Ontario.
- Fortune, Canada legalizes marijuana (16 October 2018).
- Hemp Today, Canadian hemp swings back to grain as CBD flower fields vanish, fiber retreats further, using Health Canada data for 2025.
- US Congressional Research Service, Change to federal definition of hemp and implications for federal enforcement (IN12620, 3 December 2025).
- Food Compliance International, Health Canada explores authorizing CBD for natural health products (11 March 2025).
Banner image: title card from Hemp for Victory (US Department of Agriculture, 1942). Public domain, via the Internet Archive; enhanced and tinted by Nature Shire.
