Louisiana’s farmers could start growing industrial hemp by the spring if federal and state agriculture agencies keep their regulatory work on track, Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain says.
Strain outlined to state lawmakers on Monday the regulations his department has drafted for industrial hemp production, rules that will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for approval.
Lawmakers earlier this year agreed to legalize hemp production in Louisiana, saying that would help farmers diversify their crops. The law is in line with what’s allowed under the 2018 federal Farm Bill, which removed hemp from the list of federally controlled substances.
Hemp is a member of the cannabis plant family but contains only traces of the THC chemical compound that causes a high for marijuana users. Hemp is used for textiles, fuels, rope and chemical absorbents, among other products. The state law required a hemp growing and production regulatory plan be submitted to the USDA by Nov. 1, which is why Strain’s department created the draft.
Strain estimates 100 to 200 farmers will plant hemp across as many as 80,000 acres (32,375 hectares) of Louisiana soil in 2020. He warned that the expense from cultivating the plant and the strict regulations could keep some smaller farming operations from producing the plant.
Farmers will have to go through an extensive permitting process, and each crop will be watched carefully by state regulators. Farmers also can’t have any felony convictions in the last decade or drug convictions in the last two years. Read the full story from the Associated Press.
