Partially motivated by funding concerns, two prominent hemp-growing states recently decided to let the Department of Agriculture regulate hemp within their borders, and others are still in the process of deciding whether to hand over authority to USDA as the pilot programs authorized under the 2014 farm bill expire at the end of this year.
Four tribes and three states — Hawaii, Mississippi and New Hampshire — already have determined they will let USDA have the lead role, while most have plans that have either been approved or are under review. Nearly a dozen are undecided.
Within the last month, Wisconsin and North Carolina have both said they will let USDA handle the duties of licensing and overseeing hemp production, which has raised questions over whether USDA will be able to handle the new responsibility.
“USDA is going to have to administer a lot more individual licenses next year than they’ve had to,” says Rick Fox, co-chair of the government relations committee at the National Industrial Hemp Council. “USDA says they have software in place and they’re going to be ready. And I know they’re doing their very best to get ready. But we’ll just have to see.”
Asked whether USDA is prepared to deal with applications from growers, a department spokesperson said the domestic hemp production program “is resourced to continue to process applications, review plans and provide guidance to all states, tribes and individual growers” and referred growers to the program’s website.
Growers in states without USDA-approved plans will have to apply for a hemp production license online with USDA. Wisconsin’s DATCP said that benefits of a federally run program “include no licensing fees, the federal license is three years instead of annual, and it provides some flexibility utilizing private sampling and testing services.”
Fox says in discussions with ag commissioners and directors at the recent National Association of State Departments of Agriculture meeting, a big concern was the cost of sampling and testing.
“Increased flexibility around growing the crops in general from a regulatory standpoint would be very helpful,” Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Brad Copenhaver told Agri-Pulse, mentioning how sampling protocols could be revised to focus on hemp varieties more likely to exceed the legal THC threshold.
VDACS has submitted a plan to continue running its program, Copenhaver said. The state will continue to use licensing fees to help fund it and will probably have to require growers to pay the cost of sampling and testing.
“In general, our growers prefer to deal with our state department of agriculture,” Copenhaver said.
North Carolina has about 600 licensed growers, down from around 1,500 a few years ago, said Phil Wilson, director of the plant industry division in the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Wisconsin has received 828 grower applications in 2021, down from 1,537 in 2020.
In both states, the legislature did not provide resources to continue with the programs. “Gov. Tony Evers’ 2021-2023 budget proposal provided ongoing staffing resources to support the hemp program, but those resources were not included in the final version of the budget passed by the legislature,” the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade…
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