USA: Department of Agriculture publishes regulations for the hemp industry

Consequently white house approval, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday published.., temporary regulations which will apply to hemp cultivation for the next two years. From the passage of the Farm Bill which legalized hemp at the beginning of the year, the American hemp industry evolving in uncertainty, without regulations or federal guarantees.

https://twitter.com/USDA/status/1189211069908226050

Long-awaited regulations

Faced with political and industrial pressure, the USDA had promised a regulation plan before the end of 2020. What's more, it had already prepared the ground by agreeing, back in April, patent applications for hemp seeds and recently clarifying the conditions under which import of foreign hemp. The new document specifies, however, that no export plan is currently in force.

On the other hand, it specifies how hemp is to be grown, how THC content is to be tested - it must be less than 0.3% THCA inclusive - and the protocol for eliminating crops that do not comply with federal standards. The regulations also provide for the extension of federal agricultural property insurance to all hemp crops. This insurance is currently only in force for growers operating under the hemp crop experimentation framework provided for in the 2014 Farm Bill.

As far as tests are concerned, they can only be carried out by laboratories approved by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Samples must be collected two weeks before the harvest date. Laboratories may allow for a margin of error. Thus, some samples tested at 0.35% may be acceptable. On the other hand, if the samples do not conform, the cultures must be handed over to a federal agent for disposal.

A method Shawn Hauser regrets of cannabis consultancy Vicente Sederberg LLP, given the existence of «reasonable options to remedy excess THC and avoid losses». «These provisions look like relics of prohibition and carry a costly risk for farmers, but they come as no surprise to anyone. It takes time to move from prohibition to a regulatory model,» he adds.

The future of American hemp

The regulations will be officially published in the US Federal Register tomorrow. This will be followed by a 60-day public comment period, at the end of which states and indigenous communities can submit their particular regulatory plans to the USDA. Despite the federal framework, variations are to be expected in each state's program. States that fail to propose a specific plan will fall under the federal regime.

Members of parliament and governors of certain states, including Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, Maine, Florida, Oregon, Iowa and Minnesota, have already announced that their respective administrations would submit a plan as soon as possible. Most of these states are already growing hemp under the 2014 Farm Bill and will only need to make adjustments. For many other states, on the other hand, the new regulations provide a legal framework for the creation of a hemp program. ex-nihilo.

Production in the American hemp industry has already quadrupled since the passage of the Farm Bill, and the publication of these regulations will undoubtedly boost production even further.« We at the Department of Agriculture are excited about the new economic opportunities for our farmers, and hope that the ability to grow hemp will open the door to new products and markets,» said Agriculture Minister Sonny Perdue, in a press release.

Nevertheless, the market for consumer products containing hemp-derived CBD still suffers from a lack of regulation. The Food and Drug Administration is to provide a legal framework for the production and marketing of these products (dietary supplements, cosmetics, smokable flowers). According to the agency's former director, this process could take years. Under pressure, the FDA is nevertheless speed up the process.