The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking White House approval for updates to a series of forms it distributes to hemp farmers and regulators to better understand the state of the industry.
As a federal ban on hemp-derived THC products looms after President Donald Trump signed a large-scale bill with recriminalization provisions last year, USDA said in a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday that it wants the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review seven forms it plans to revise and disseminate for information-gathering purposes.
“In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) intention to request an extension and revision to the approved forms hemp producers licensed by USDA as well as States, Territories, and Tribes with approved hemp production plans must complete as part of the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program,” USDA said.
The forms the department is soliciting input on include those that collect data on licensing status, remediation practices for hemp that tests above the federal THC limit, total acreage for the cannabis crop, lab testing results and more.
USDA will accept public comment on the proposed extension and revisions of the forms through March 30.
Comments on the functionality of the forms, accuracy of estimated burden on respondents, opportunities to further enhance the data collection and ways to “minimize the burden” of completing the forms are all welcome, the department said.
USDA started annually surveying hemp farmers across the country shortly after the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill. And while the value of hemp increased from 2023 to 2024, industry stakeholders have routinely pointed to the lower-than-expected average value of products such as grain, fiber and consumable cannabinoids as a reflection of insufficient regulatory policies.
A report from the research firm Whitney Economics that was published last year found that USDA is “undervaluing” the hemp industry, relying on market research in a way that could be “inadvertently hurting the very same farmers they are trying to regulate.”
The report identified an improper methodology for data collection on the value of the cannabis crop that’s “contributing to the misperception that farmers are not benefiting from the rise in the hemp-derived cannabinoid industry.”
While USDA collects data from hemp farmers in much the same way as other commercial crops—soliciting information about total yields and the purpose of the production, for example—Whitney Economics said the department is not accurately accounting for the unique value of floral hemp in the marketplace. Instead, it assesses value based on “a blended average of the sales of biomass and the flower.”
Meanwhile, major alcohol retailers are coming together to encourage Congress to delay the enactment of the law Trump signed that will federally recriminalize hemp-derived THC beverages and other products beginning this November.
The newly launched Beverage Alcohol Merchants Coalition’s (BAMCO) founding members include Total Wine & More, BevMo! by Gopuff, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Spec’s Wine and Spirits & Finer Foods, as well as a group of hemp product wholesalers.
The coalition is calling on lawmakers to pass recently introduced legislation, the Hemp Planting Predictability Act, that would give the hemp industry two more years before a federal ban on THC products would take effect—which stakeholders hope will better position them to negotiate a broader regulatory compromise.
Other alcohol industry groups such as Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America have also backed regulating hemp products instead of prohibiting them.
Several bipartisan lawmakers, including the lead sponsor, protested as the spending legislation with the hemp ban provision advanced through Congress.
For what it’s worth, four in five marijuana consumers say they oppose the recriminalization of hemp THC products under the spending bill Trump signed in November. However, it should be noted that that poll was conducted weeks before he issued a cannabis rescheduling order and took steps to protect access to full-spectrum CBD.
Trump signed an executive order last month directing the attorney general to complete the process of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Part of that announcement also hold implications for the forthcoming hemp law. The president’s order also urged Congress to examine updating the definition of hemp to ensure that full-spectrum CBD is accessible to patients.
A further redefinition of hemp would be part of a novel proposal to allow Medicare recipients to access non-intoxicating CBD that’d be covered under the federal health care plan.
To effectuate that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be announcing “a model that will allow a number of CMS beneficiaries to benefit from receiving CBD under doctor recommendation at no cost,” a White House official said during a briefing that Marijuana Moment first reported leaked details from ahead of the signing event.
Trump seemed endorse a more flexible CBD policy last summer when he shared a video calling for that specific reform while promoting the health benefits of cannabidiol, particularly for seniors.
Meanwhile, a separate recently filed Republican-led congressional bill would stop the implementation of the hemp ban under the enacted appropriations legislation.
Hemp businesses and industry groups have warned about the potential ramifications of the ban, but despite his support for states’ rights for cannabis and a recent social media post touting the benefits of CBD, Trump signed the underlying spending measure into law without acknowledging the hemp provisions.
GOP political operative Roger Stone said recently that Trump was effectively “forced” by Republican lawmakers to sign the spending bill with the hemp THC ban language.
However, a White House spokesperson said prior to the bill signing that Trump specifically supported the prohibition language.
The Democratic governor of Kentucky said that the hemp industry is an “important” part of the economy that deserves to be regulated at the state level—rather than federally prohibited, as Congress has moved to do.
Also, a leading veterans organization is warning congressional leaders that the newly approved blanket ban on consumable hemp products could inadvertently “slam the door shut” on critical research.
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Since 2018, cannabis products have been considered legal hemp if they contain less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis.
The new legislation specifies that, within one year of enactment, the weight will apply to total THC—including delta-8 and other isomers. It will also include “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals as a tetrahydrocannabinol (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services).”
The new definition of legal hemp will additionally ban “any intermediate hemp-derived cannabinoid products which are marketed or sold as a final product or directly to an end consumer for personal or household use” as well as products containing cannabinoids that are synthesized or manufactured outside of the cannabis plant or not capable of being naturally produced by it.
Legal hemp products will be limited to a total of 0.4 milligrams per container of total THC or any other cannabinoids with similar effects.
Within 90 days of the bill’s enactment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies will need to publish list of “all cannabinoids known to FDA to be capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant, as reflected in peer reviewed literature,” “all tetrahydrocannabinol class cannabinoids known to the agency to be naturally occurring in the plant” and “all other known cannabinoids with similar effects to, or marketed to have similar effects to, tetrahyrocannabinol class cannabinoids.”
The language slightly differs from provisions included in legislation that had previously advanced out of the House and Senate Appropriations panels, which would have banned products containing any “quantifiable” amount of THC, to be determined by the HHS secretary and secretary of agriculture.
Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.
The post USDA Seeks White House Approval For Changes To Hemp Farming Forms As Industry Braces For Federal THC Ban appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
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