According to Hemp Industry Daily…Farmers growing hemp would get a small cushion in THC limits under nationwide rules proposed Tuesday by federal agriculture regulators.
Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s draft rules, crops testing higher than 0.3% THC due to uncertain genetics and variation in sampling and testing procedures will have a range of “measurement of uncertainty” that their crops must fall within for their test results to be considered acceptable.
“USDA recognizes that hemp producers may take the necessary steps and precautions to produce hemp … yet still produce plants that exceed the acceptable hemp THC level,” the rules say.The guidelines will be published in the Federal Register on Thursday and take effect immediately.
Farmers wouldn’t be considered in negligent violation unless their hemp crops test above 0.5% THC, according to USDA Undersecretary Greg Ibach. Ibach heads up the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the division responsible for drafting the federal rules.
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Still, farmers with hemp that tests at 0.3%-0.5% THC “would still need to dispose of the plants,” the agency said.
The THC variance may give some hemp farmers additional comfort they won’t face drug crimes for bad hemp, said Shawn Hauser, a hemp specialty lawyer at the Vicente Sederberg firm in Denver.
But the proposal “may not go far enough for farmers whose profit or loss can depend on a minuscule amount of THC content,” she added.
“More protections for ‘hot’ hemp are needed to protect legitimate operators who are complying with the rules but experience reasonable variances in testing results.”
Read the rest of the story HERE at Hemp Industry Daily
Originally Published October 29, 2019 | By Laura Drotleff
