Hemp and USDA

On Jan. 19 USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service published the final version of the rule clarifying regulations for the production of hemp in the United States. The 2018 farm bill  legalized the production of hemp as an agricultural commodity and removed it from the list of controlled substances. In October 2019, USDA released the text of its interim final rule for regulations, establishing a domestic hemp production program. Since this was an interim final rule, it went into effect immediately upon being published in the Federal Register. Many agricultural organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, submitted comments on the  interim final rule by the January 2020 deadline.

But now, The Department of Agriculture just published a final rule clarifying regulations for U.S. hemp production. Final hemp rules issued by the USDA should ease the regulatory burden on hemp farmers, according to the American Farm Bureau's Scott Bennett, who says the final rule will change sampling and testing requirements. “New alternative methods simply must have the potential to ensure that at a confidence level of 95 percent, the plant will not test above the acceptable THC level. The rule also modified the sampling timeline. The interim final rule gave a 15 day window to collect samples before harvest, that now sits at a 30 day window. “

The Farm Bureau says the final rule also changes regulations regarding negligence and disposal.