The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced it has posted a recorded informational webinar to outline key provisions of the Final Rule establishing the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program, which went into effect March 22, 2021.
The webinar is an opportunity for state and tribal authorities and individual growers to learn how to comply with licensing requirements, recordkeeping requirements for maintaining information about the land where hemp is produced, procedures for testing the THC concentration levels for hemp, procedures for disposing of non-compliant plants, compliance provisions and procedures for handling violations.
A link to view the webinar is available on the AMS Hemp Production webpage. Live questions will not be accepted. Please submit questions to farmbill.hemp@usda.gov.
AMS encourages participation of smaller businesses, new and beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged producers, veteran producers, underserved communities, and/or organizations representing these entities.
Background: On March 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it had completed its review of the Final Rule establishing the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program and that the rule as published in the Federal Register on Jan. 19, 2021, would move forward and be effective on March 22, 2021.
As part of the transition, USDA and many other agencies took the opportunity to review new and pending regulatory actions. This is a routine process done at the beginning of new administrations to ensure longstanding as well as new programs are structured and resourced appropriately and to ensure programs are implemented to best serve their intended stakeholders.
The final rule includes provisions for the USDA to approve hemp production plans developed by states and Indian tribes including requirements for maintaining information on the land where hemp is produced, testing the levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, disposing of plants not meeting necessary requirements and licensing requirements. It also establishes a federal plan for hemp producers in states or territories of Indian tribes that do not have their own USDA-approved hemp production plan.
The final rule incorporates modifications to regulations established under the interim final rule (IFR) published in October 2019. The modifications are based on public comments following the publication of the IFR and lessons learned during the 2020 growing season.
More information about the final rule is available on the AMS Hemp Production webpage.
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