While they were not invited to attend the Senate candidate forum, Schwarze and Weiler went to Farmfest anyway. Schwarze told a reporter at the event that he was “the actual Republican candidate supported by the grassroots.” The production of intoxicating products made of hemp was made possible by the decriminalization of hemp in the 2018 farm bill. While the House approved its version of the farm bill, the Senate farm bill floundered on Thursday when it was defeated on a party line vote in the Senate Agricultural Committee. The last five-year farm bill was approved in 2018.