USDA

While there are more U.S. farmers this year who are licensed to grow hemp, total hemp acreage is down 9% from 2019.

Hemp businesses are unlikely to receive coronavirus assistance from the USDA as the sector hasn’t suffered a 5% decline in prices.

The USDA last week approved hemp production plans for Massachusetts and five separate Native American tribes.

The USDA has released guidelines for hemp businesses to apply for and receive federal loans.

The USDA has approved Florida’s hemp program; the state will be accepting industry applications starting today.

The USDA approved state hemp program plans for Georgia and South Carolina this week.

The USDA has approved Iowa’s proposed industrial hemp plan; state officials, however, have specified that the program does not legalize the CBD industry.

The USDA has removed a requirement for the coming growing season that all hemp crops be tested by DEA-approved labs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved industrial hemp programs for Washington and Wyoming, as well as the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas, and the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska.

The USDA created a pilot hemp insurance program that covers against loss of yield for hemp grown for fiber, grain, or CBD; the agency also gave hemp farmers access to the federal Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

The new insurance option will only apply to federally-eligible hemp producers in select counties and states, however.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently met with FDA Commissioner nominee Dr. Stephen Hahn and discussed the need for a federal CBD regulatory framework.

The USDA has released draft rules for the federal hemp industry and should soon be able to launch its review process for individual states’ hemp programs.

The USDA is awarding funds to research the transportation of hemp pollen in the wild; the study will use mathematical models and drone technology to monitor hemp’s pollen paths.

Draft rules for the federal hemp industry have been submitted by the USDA to the White House Office of Management and Budget; the rules should be released publicly within “a matter of weeks.”

Hemp farmers can file for federal crop insurance under a new directive from the United States Department of Agriculture.

A truck driver delivering 300 pounds of hemp from a Colorado company to Minnesota was arrested in South Dakota and charged with marijuana possession with intent to distribute.

Researchers from the Colorado State University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences believe that the proliferation of industrial hemp flowers could benefit pollinators, specifically the declining bee population.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe in South Dakota is suing the USDA for having failed to approve its proposed plan to regulate hemp production on tribal lands within the 60 days required under last year’s Farm Bill.

Idaho law enforcement says it will continue arresting long-haul truck drivers who ferry industrial hemp through the state and confiscating their cargo, despite hemp’s federal legalization and a USDA memo that clarifies interstate hemp transport is legal.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture — which is the only agency in the country capable of certifying agricultural products as “organic” — has issued its first-ever organic certification for a hemp flower product.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released guidance allowing farmers to import hemp seed from international industrial hemp markets — as long as said seeds are documented to produce plants containing less THC than the federal limit of 0.3 percent.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he will support a legislative fix for issues with federal industrial hemp rules.