Greenway Magazine
by Kentucky Dept. of Agriculture
27 May 2021
Today, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture announced federal approval of the state’s amendment to the Industrial Hemp Plan. With the approval, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Marketing Service affirmed that Kentucky’s amended plan complies with federal law and regulations.
The entire amended Kentucky State Plan can be reviewed here.
Key changes include:
Increasing the pre-harvest window for compliance sampling from 15 to 30 days
Allowing remediation options for eligible crops that initially test above 0.3% total THC
Updating requirements for testing laboratories to be ISO 17025 accredited and after 12/31/2022, also registered with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
As one of the first plans approved under the new federal final rule, Kentucky’s producers will help launch a new era of domestic industrial hemp production. Remaining states, tribes and territories must have plans approved by the end of the year, or defer regulatory authority to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Last year, more than 200 Producer Registrations were issued in Kentucky and 811 acres of industrial hemp were planted – including varieties grown for flower, fiber, seed, and grain. As a national leader in third-party sampling, the program certified 80 Certified Industrial Hemp Samplers across 38 counties – allowing for increased flexibility for Kentucky’s producers, and a business opportunity for those certified.
To learn more about the Kentucky Industrial Hemp program, please visit Agriculture.Mo.Gov. Producers may also sign up for email updates related to the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Program by clicking here.
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Background: On Jan. 19, 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture published the federal final rule for domestic hemp production. The rule became effective on March 22, 2021, and is available for review here. Several key provisions of the final rule required the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to amend the Kentucky State Plan that previously served as the regulatory framework for Kentucky’s industrial hemp producers.
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