In the summer of 2020, Jake Mohr worked as an industrial hemp inspector for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Mohr, who lives in Onalaska, said he enjoyed traveling to hemp farms and greenhouses to take plant samples, which he passed along to DATCP’s lab in Madison to ensure the crop was within the legal limit of THC.
“I enjoyed meeting hemp producers around southwestern Wisconsin and kind of seeing the varied types of operations they have. It’s a pretty plant as well,” he said.
When DATCP officials announced in September that the state was handing over regulation of the industry to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mohr decided to look into what it takes to become an inspector at the federal level. Mohr said he’s currently working for an organic certification company that does work with hemp producers and he’s hoping his employer will want to add THC sampling to their services.
Mohr is one of only two USDA-certified hemp sampling agents in Wisconsin, as of Dec. 8. But the state’s hemp industry will need more people to take up the job in order for the transition to federal regulation in 2022 to be a success, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
Rob Richard, president of the Wisconsin Hemp Alliance, said the industry will likely need a similar number of private sampling agents in order to keep up with demand.
Richard said he’s confident the free market will lead to the most fair sampling costs for hemp producers in the long run. Instead of being forced to pay the $250 fee set by the state’s hemp program, producers will be able to shop around for the best price.
“If you’ve got people up in Rhinelander where the closest sample agent is based in Madison, let’s say, and they charge by the mile to get there plus whatever the sample cost is plus the actual processing cost that the lab charges, then you could be looking at a sample cost that’s higher than what it was to get certified…
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