Largest US Farm Group Calls for Tripling the Federal Hemp THC Limit

The hemp industry is a year old, worth millions of dollars in sales, with experts predicting it will hit $20 billion by 2024. Despite this, farmers aren’t happy, and most of their complaints are centered around the rules put forward by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to regulate the sector.

The 2018 Farm Bill was instrumental for hemp, classifying industrial hemp as cannabis with less than 0.3% THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol), and giving farmers the leeway to start growing it under state and tribal programs.

However, that was the extent of the Bill’s regulation, and the sector labored for months under a barebones regulatory structure. In October 2019, the USDA released the long-awaited interim final rule on hemp, finally giving the sector a more comprehensive regulatory structure. On top of THC limits, the final rule instructed hemp farmers to test their crops at DEA-certified facilities only and gave them only 15 days after testing to harvest.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the government should triple the level of THC allowed in industrial hemp and give farmers three times as long to harvest a field after it is tested. Growers say that the THC limits, testing requirements and harvest time are so stringent that many farmers will fail to meet those requirements.

Even as farmers harvest their crops right now, it has been established that a large percentage of the crop has tested positive for excessive THC. In Arizona, 40% of the hemp tested had excess THC levels.

Delegates voting on AFBF policy approved a suggestion that hemp with up to 1% THC content ought to be legal, and that farmers should have as much as 45 days to harvest their hemp after it has been tested. They also said that any accredited lab should be allowed to carry out the THC tests, instead of limiting it to DEA-certified labs.

Farmers have argued that 1% THC content is barely enough to get anyone high and that it is difficult to get seeds that consistently produce hemp that tests below the 0.3% THC limit. On top of that, they say the 15-day harvest window is too short since it can take up to a week to get test results.

The delegates also supported the development of alternative uses for ‘hot hemp’, which is hemp that tests above the acceptable THC limits. Current regulations require farmers to destroy hot hemp. The alternatives include use in textiles, fuel or livestock bedding.

“As the USDA finalized the regulations relating to hemp, our delegates have called for slight revisions there that we think will improve the program,” said AFBF Vice President Scott Vanderwal.

It remains to be seen what other industry actors, such as SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING), think about the changes recommended by the AFBF.

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