The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give hemp two different classifications depending on its intended use in order to expand access to federal grant programs.<\/p>\n
Members of NASDA agreed last week to amend its organizational policy on USDA\u2019s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. They are now calling for two distinct categories for hemp, requesting that the federal agency allow businesses to designate the crop as either a specialty crop or agronomic commodity.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s consistent with a request that was included in a spending bill report from the Senate Appropriations Committee<\/a> that was approved last month.<\/p>\n While the requested change may seem largely technical, it would make it so hemp farmers could have greater access to grants that stakeholders say would provide them with valuable resources as the industry continues to evolve. It\u2019s not clear if USDA will follow through, but NASDA is an influential body that represents agriculture departments in all 50 states and four U.S. territories.<\/p>\n The new policy that the organization adopted during its annual meeting states<\/a> that \u201cNASDA supports the dual designation for hemp as a specialty crop based on the manner and purpose for which it is grown,\u201d and it also \u201csupports expanding the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program funding eligibility to hemp crops with horticultural uses.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told Marijuana Moment that the group is \u201creally excited that NASDA is so working so closely with our industry to help identify solutions to support hemp farmers, and this is a technical issue, but it could open the door for funding and other support that hemp farmers so desperately need right now.\u201d<\/p>\n What NASDA seems to be doing with this latest action is aligning its policy with the Senate appropriations report for fiscal year 2022, Herrick Fox, co-chair of the government relations committee at the National Industrial Hemp Council (NIHC) who previously spent 15 years working in USDA, told Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n He said that the \u201conly reason\u201d hemp didn\u2019t receive the dual designation from USDA in the first place is because \u201cI think all the federal agencies are still trying to get used to the idea of hemp as a legal agricultural product\u2014and in the first years following legalization, there was some unspoken reticence.\u201d<\/p>\n NASDA CEO Barb Glenn said<\/a> in a press release that \u201callowing hemp to be designated as both a specialty crop and a traditional commodity recognizes the crop\u2019s up-and-coming nature and assures new farmers will be supported in their decisions to grow the crop for either food, fiber or horticultural use.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs the regulators and stewards of healthy agricultural industries in their states, NASDA members have been the leading voice for supporting the hemp industry since hemp\u2019s inclusion in the 2014 Farm Bill,\u201d she said. \u201cThis action would be another important step in helping hemp achieve long-term sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n USDA has made clear its intent to support the burgeoning industry.<\/p>\n For example, the agency recently announced that it is teaming up with university researchers to figure out the best ways to keep weeds (not the marijuana kind) out of hemp<\/a>.<\/p>\n USDA also announced last month that it is moving forward with a\u00a0large-scale survey to gain insight into the hemp market<\/a>.<\/p>\n After\u00a0requesting permission from the White House<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year to conduct the survey of about 20,000 hemp farmers, the agency\u2019s National Agricultural Statistics Service recently said that the forms are being finalized to be filled out via mail or online.<\/p>\n USDA is asking questions about plans for outdoor hemp production, acreage for operations, primary and secondary uses for the crop and what kinds of prices producers are able to bring in. The questionnaire lists preparations such as smokeable hemp, extracts like CBD, grain for human consumption, fiber and seeds as areas the department is interested in learning about.<\/p>\n Last year, USDA announced plans to distribute a\u00a0separate national survey to gain insights from thousands of hemp businesses<\/a>\u00a0that could inform its approach to regulating the industry.<\/p>\n That survey is being completed in partnership with National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the University of Kentucky. The department said it wanted to learn about \u201ccurrent production costs, production practices, and marketing practices\u201d for hemp.<\/p>\n There\u2019s still much to learn about the burgeoning market, even as USDA\u00a0continues to approve state regulatory plans<\/a>\u00a0for the crop. Most recently, the agency\u00a0approved a hemp plan submitted by Colorado<\/a>, where officials have consistently insisted that the state intends to be a leader in the space.<\/p>\n While USDA\u2019s final rule for hemp took effect on March 22, the agency is evidently still interested in gathering information to further inform its regulatory approach going forward. Industry stakeholders say the release of the final rule is a positive step forward that will provide businesses with needed guidance, but they\u2019ve also pointed to a number of policies that they hope to revise as the market matures such as USDA\u2019s hemp testing requirements.<\/p>\n The federal Small Business Administration\u2019s Office of Advocacy\u00a0expressed a similar sentiment in a blog post<\/a>\u00a0in February, writing that it is \u201cpleased with some of the changes that [USDA] has made to the rule, as they offer more certainty and are less burdensome to small farmers,\u201d but \u201csome concerns remained unaddressed in the final rule.\u201d<\/p>\n USDA announced in April that it is\u00a0teaming up with a chemical manufacturing company<\/a>\u00a0on a two-year project that could significantly expand the hemp-based cosmetics market.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced last month that it is\u00a0sponsoring a project to develop hemp fiber insulation<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s designed to be better for the environment and public health than conventional preparations are.<\/p>\n IRS Official Offers Tax Advice To Marijuana Businesses And Says Feds Expect Industry To Keep Growing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Pixabay<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Federal Grants For Hemp Farmers Should Be Expanded, State Agriculture Departments Demand At Annual Meeting<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give hemp two different classifications depending on its intended use in order to expand access to federal grant programs. Members of NASDA agreed last week to amend its organizational policy on USDA\u2019sContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1335,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50184,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50183\/revisions\/50184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Federal Grants For Hemp Farmers Should Be Expanded, State Agriculture Departments Demand At Annual Meeting<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"