Editor's Note
This article discusses growers' concerns that the government wants to use a heavy hand that could result in many crops failing required tests and being destroyed. Most of the anxiety involves how the federal government plans to test for THC. The federal government and most states  consider plants with 0.3 percent or less to be hemp. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 20 percent of hemp lots would fail under the draft regulations. The USDA did not respond to the criticism but has taken the unusual step of extending the public comment period by a month, until January 29th. AHPA is currently preparing comments to be submitted to USDA.
January 13, 2020
Associated Press

Hemp growers and entrepreneurs who were joyous a year ago after U.S. lawmakers  reclassified the plant as a legal agricultural crop  now are worried their businesses could be crippled if federal policymakers move ahead with draft regulations.

Licenses for hemp cultivation topped a half-million acres (200,000 hectares) last year, more than 450 percent above 2018 levels, so there's intense interest in the rules the U.S. government is creating. Critical comments on the draft have poured in from hemp farmers, processors, retailers and state governments.

Growers are concerned the government wants to use a heavy hand that could result in many crops failing required tests and being destroyed. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency writing the rules, estimates 20 percent of hemp lots would fail under the draft regulations.

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