Alabama Accepting New Hemp Industry Applications

The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) is now accepting hemp production, processing, and university research applications, according to the Alabama Political Reporter. This is the fourth year the agency has administered the program. Applications must be submitted through the Kelly Registration System found at the ADAI website and must be completed by November 29 at 5:00 PM, the report says.

“This is the department’s fourth year to administer the hemp program. It has always been our goal to manage the program in a fair and timely manner to benefit Alabama farmers and hemp producers and develop industrial hemp as an alternative crop.” — Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate via the Political Reporter

After the legislature passed the Alabama Industrial Hemp Research Program Act in 2016, which required the ADAI to set up a hemp licensing program, and the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which declassified hemp by officially defining hemp as parts of the cannabis plant with less than 0.3% THC, the state had its first hemp production and processing cohort in 2019.

The program saw 152 licensed producers, 59 processors, and five universities in 2019. In 2020, officials licensed 422 producers but by the end of the year, that number had fallen to 300, according to the report. Additionally, processors are permitted to create CBD-rich products, grain, and fiber.