December 7, 2020
Effective immediately, Michigan’s industrial hemp growers can no longer collect and submit their own hemp samples to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). Instead, growers must request an appointment for an MDARD sampling agent to collect the sample(s). The information below introduces you to the new procedures growers must follow to request a hemp sample collection.
MDARD recognizes the greatest need for field grown hemp sampling next year will begin much later in the 2021 growing season (August, September, October); however, for those growers who are growing industrial hemp to full maturity inside in a greenhouse or other indoor growing structure, these procedures will now apply to you.
To request a sample collection appointment, growers must complete a Hemp Pre-harvest (Sample Request) form. It will permanently reside on MDARD’s Industrial Hemp website www.michigan.gov/industrialhemp and can be found here. All fields included on the form must be filled out completely by the grower and it must be submitted electronically.
Once received by the department, your grower registration will be verified, and the request will be forwarded to an MDARD sampling agent. The MDARD sampling agent will contact the grower by phone to schedule an appointment to collect samples. Please ensure you provide an accurate, monitored telephone number to avoid delays in scheduling. The grower and/or their authorized representative must be present during sampling.
When completing the Hemp Pre-harvest (Sample Request) form, growers must provide specific detail on their hemp crop acreage, their growing locations, and the variety/varieties of hemp being grown. The information submitted will be reviewed by the MDARD sampling agent and the number of samples needing to be collected at the time of the appointment will be agreed upon with the grower. A sample collection fee will be assessed, and the grower will be invoiced for the sample collection AND sample analysis fee combined. For additional information, contact Gina Alessandri, Hemp Program Director, at 517-284-5637.
