Hemp Alerts and Happenings

March 2025

Hemp Symposium 2025

Virtual Hemp Symposium, April 15, 2025, at 1:00 PM MST


CDA will be hosting a Hemp Symposium providing important information to hemp growers, sampling agents, and testing laboratories.


Updates will be provided by the CDA Hemp Program, Farm Services Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Agency (NRCS), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and the US Hemp Building Association.


Topics will include planting and harvest reporting, funding opportunities, hemp in feed, testing, regulatory sampling and hemp building.


Please register here for this event.


Performance-based Sampling Petition

Colorado law provides hemp growers who produce hemp using Certified Seed or Certified Clones to petition for performance-based sampling. This provision allows crops to be sampled on random and risk based compared to all others who will be sampled 100%.


Performance-based sampling is only provided if registered with an R&D registration; has produced hemp at or below the acceptable hemp THC level for the previous three years; who produces hemp microgreens, hemp greens, hemp transplants, and immature plants; or who produces hemp for grain or other industrial purposes and provided the COA of the seed they have planted. If growers meet these criteria they may petition the Department for inclusion in the Department’s performance-based sampling program (8 CCR 1203-23, rule 4.8). Petition is valid for current registration identified in PART 1. If approved all lots are subject to random sampling by the Department.


To be eligible, please submit a petition within 10 days after planting. Only lots with a planting report will be considered for performance-based sampling.

Farm Service Agency ("FSA") Lot Numbers

It is mandatory that all hemp growers are required to create an FSA “lot” number and report your hemp plantings to CDA and a Crop Acreage Report to FSA. Contact the local FSA office to create a farm record. If transplanting the hemp crop, FSA will not issue a lot number until the hemp is in its final location within your registered land area (“RLA”). If your hemp crop acreage is solely planted outside within your RLA, a crop report will need to be completed with FSA after planting.

The deadline for hemp producers to register with FSA is July 15, 2025. You must call your local FSA Office to be added to the Crop Reporting Register. Failure to register with FSA is a violation of Hemp Rule 8 CCR 1203, Part 3.7 and may result in a civil penalty.


For more details about registering with the FSA and other Hemp Program requirements, please refer to the frequently asked questions on our website or contact hemp@state.co.us. 

What is THCA and how does it relate to hemp production in Colorado?

hemp plant

The federal and Colorado definition of Hemp is the plant species Cannabis sativa L. and any part of the plant, whether growing or not, containing a total delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of no more than three-tenths of one percent (0.3%) on a dry weight basis. CDA requires laboratory testing on pre-harvest hemp samples to determine total ∆9-THC, which includes ∆9-THCA.  


Please refer to the THCA Announcement on our website for more information.

Certified Hemp Seed or Clone

Did you know the public can find a list of all licensed hemp seed labelers for open-source seed and see if a seed dealer is registered in AgLicense? To sell your seed legally you will need to contact the Seed Program directly and acquire a Seed Labeler license. Click the link above or call the Seed Program directly to speak with Brian Allen at 303-869-9071.


Certified Hemp Seed or Clone means Cannabis sativa L. certified by a Seed Certification Agency pursuant to the Federal Seed Act, 7 CFR §201.67 et. Seq. and the Colorado Seed Act, 35-27-103, C.R.S. For more information on Certified Hemp Seed, please refer to Colorado State University’s Colorado Seed Programs.

Colorado Hemp Networking Directory

The Hemp Networking Directory is where Colorado growers, manufacturers, processors, and consumers connect in support of a strong future in our hemp industry. 


If you are not in, please add your business to the directory today!

Colorado Hemp Networking Directory Logo

Funding Opportunities

USDA is currently offering the Value-Added Producer Grant to agricultural producers in starting or expanding value-added activities related to the processing and/or marketing of Value-Added Agricultural Products. For more information visit grants.gov, key word “hemp".

CDA Outreach

CDA will have a booth and provide Hemp Program Updates at the 11th Annual NOCO Hemp Expo this April 11 and 12, 2025, in Estes Park, Colorado.


Please stop by and connect with our staff!

Do you have any questions? Contact the Hemp program via our online

hemp question form

Colorado Department of Agriculture ag.colorado.gov/hemp

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