With industrial hemp promoted as a new cash crop for struggling farmers, Louisiana’s agriculture department is fast-tracking the regulations for the newly legal commodity, with the first grower licenses expected to win approval in February.
Interested farmers are packing orientation sessions to learn about the lengthy paperwork, licensing, testing and reporting requirements the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry is enacting to govern industrial hemp production in Louisiana, under a program overwhelmingly backed by lawmakers earlier this year.
The regulatory requirements are lengthy—and the oversight of growing operations is intense—as state officials seek to encourage production of hemp as a way farmers can diversify their crops, while also ensuring none of the hemp farming operations crosses over into marijuana growth.
“Especially in this first year, you’re going to be seeing a lot of us,” Angela Guidry, coordinator of Louisiana’s industrial hemp program in the agriculture department, warned about inspections at a recent orientation session.
Congress paved the way for the hemp program in Louisiana and other states. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp by removing it from the list of federally controlled substances, giving states an opportunity to develop a hemp-growing program, if the U.S. Agriculture Department approves a state’s plan.
At least 47 states have enacted laws aimed at creating industrial hemp programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain pushed to create the state’s law.
The Department of Agriculture and Forestry expects to issue the first annual licenses for hemp seed producers, growers and processors on Feb. 20. Applicants must pass a criminal background check. No one convicted of a felony within the last 10 years or a drug-related misdemeanor in the last two years is eligible, Guidry says. Read the full story.
