More than two years after Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill, making hemp a legal agricultural commodity, farmers finally have one national set of rules for growing the crop. And they officially take effect Monday.
Outdoor hemp and marijuana growers are getting ready to get their crops in the ground in the coming weeks, but before they sow seeds or plant clones or seedlings, it’s important to get a good start with proper soil testing, conditioning and preparation.
As industrial hemp programs continue to develop, disparities between acres licensed and acres grown vary, depending mainly on licensing fee structures. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/hemp-growers-farmed-fewer-acres-than-licensed-in-2020/
Hemp producers will have more breathing room under newly released rules on the federally mandated THC levels before they are declared criminally negligent, with the margin of error increasing from a total of 0.5% to 1% THC.
For all the growth that the hemp and CBD industry has seen as a nascent industry in recent years, last year farmers took a step back and devoted fewer resources to the crop – the enthusiasm of previous years tempered by oversupply, supply-chain issues and a lack of infrastructure.
The best way to prevent ‘hot hemp’ is to choose cultivars that will test below the federal threshold of 0.3% THC. But keeping the heat off requires so much more, experts say. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/how-prevent-hemp-crop-going-hot-thc-threshold-percent/
While interest in growing hemp for fiber rose in 2020, the supply chain still has hurdles to overcome. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/hemp-fiber-industry-nihc-panxchange-textiles-2020-trends/
Everyone knows the planet’s changing temperatures are creating dramatic swings in weather that threaten our very survival. But global warming could also be the kind of problem that provides hemp companies with opportunities that former generations couldn’t imagine.