The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking the White House to approve a new survey to collect even more information about hemp production and the economics of the industry.<\/p>\n
Just days after the department released the results of a first-ever national hemp survey<\/a>, it announced its intent to dive even deeper into the newly legal industry through a questionnaire it plans to administer in partnership with the University of Kentucky.<\/p>\n The follow-up survey data will be designed to help in \u201cforecasting hemp activity\u201d and developing \u201ca representative understanding of hemp production practices and costs at national, regional, and state levels,\u201d USDA said in a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.<\/p>\n While both this and the recently released national survey are meant to assist stakeholders navigate a burgeoning and often volatile market, this additional effort will focus on \u201ceconomic data (primarily production costs) from the 2020 season.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRisks in the hemp market are high and rapidly changing, with consistent stakeholder demands for knowledge of economics and markets on which to base decisions,\u201d USDA said. \u201cThere is little to no information on demand for hemp derived products and market risks are exacerbated by lack of transparency and consistency in reporting. While several private or local sources of information have emerged, quality and costs for stakeholders are variable and requests for consistent unbiased national data from USDA continue.\u201d<\/p>\n The notice says that coordinated data collection efforts are needed to help shed light on the \u201cnewly emerging industry\u201d and \u201crespond to the breadth of identified needs.\u201d Specifically, the questionnaire responses will be used to \u201cdetermine break-even production costs and range and implications for market structure.\u201d<\/p>\n The data gathered from this initiative will be used to inform \u201crulemaking, risk management, and resource management,\u201d the department said, adding that it could help stakeholders answer \u201ceconomic viability questions\u201d around issues such as global competitiveness, risk management and market outlook.<\/p>\n \u201cThe survey will be administered to individual hemp producers through the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) and individual state departments of agriculture,\u201d a USDA spokesperson told Marijuana Moment. \u201cThe survey will also be administered to tribes that have USDA-approved hemp production programs.\u201d<\/p>\n The notice<\/a> says that the survey would be distributed to 20,000 respondents, and it plans to conduct it annually.<\/p>\n For a 30-day period, interested parties can submit<\/a> public comments on the proposed survey as part of an ongoing review by the White House Office of Management and Budget.<\/p>\n USDA similarly proposed partnering with the University of Kentucky<\/a> for a separate hemp survey in 2020 that it said would aid the department in developing regulations for the market, which rapidly expanded after the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.<\/p>\n Separately, USDA announced last month that it is partnering with Cornell University on a webinar series to promote education about hemp as the industry evolves<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the agency also said that it has taken steps to improve insurance policies for hemp businesses<\/a>, making them more flexible in response to stakeholder feedback.<\/p>\n USDA has taken a number of steps to align hemp insurance policies with those of other lawful crops since the plant was federally legalized, consistently seeking out input from stakeholders as the industry matures.<\/p>\n In 2020, for example, the department made it so hemp farmers\u00a0can qualify for Multi-Peril Crop Insurance<\/a>, in addition to\u00a0several other coverage programs for which the crop is now eligible<\/a>.<\/p>\n USDA said last year 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 While the hemp industry has grown demonstrably in recent years, stakeholders say the results of USDA\u2019s most recent survey show a market decline that demonstrates the need for further reforms to the country\u2019s hemp rules.<\/p>\n Creating federal regulations to allow for the marketing of hemp-derived cannabinoid products could bolster the flower-based hemp market, for example. Experts also say there\u2019s a need to increase the THC threshold for the crop.<\/p>\n A recently filed bill from Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME)<\/a> includes a provision to raise that threshold from the current 0.3 percent to one percent on a dry weight basis, among other reforms.<\/p>\n Last year, Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) filed a separate bill aimed at allowing hemp and CBD derived from the crop\u00a0to be marketed and sold as dietary supplements<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the Senate, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a bill that would similarly exempt \u201chemp, hemp-derived cannabidiol, or a substance containing any other ingredient derived from hemp\u201d from certain restrictions that have\u00a0blocked the emergence of legal consumable hemp products<\/a>\u00a0while the FDA has slow-walked regulations.<\/p>\n Paul also filed separate legislation last year that would\u00a0triple the concentration of THC that hemp could legally contain<\/a>\u00a0while addressing multiple other concerns the industry has expressed about the federal regulations.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced in August 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 South Dakota Governor Won\u2019t Rule Out Vetoing Marijuana Legalization Bill That Passed The Senate<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post USDA Seeks White House Approval For Another Hemp Survey Involving 20,000 Respondents<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking the White House to approve a new survey to collect even more information about hemp production and the economics of the industry. Just days after the department released the results of a first-ever national hemp survey, it announced its intent to diveContinue 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":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53204"}],"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=53204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53205,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53204\/revisions\/53205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: USDA Seeks White House Approval For Another Hemp Survey Involving 20,000 Respondents<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"