GROWING QUESTIONS
Would-be hemp growers told to wait
New federal farm bill has made hemp farming less cumbersome, but state regulations haven't changed
Oklahomans who want to grow industrial hemp this year outside of the state's existing pilot program might as well nip those plans in the bud.
In Oklahoma, it remains illegal to grow the crop outside of an existing pilot program authorized by Oklahoma's Legislature in 2018, officials said Wednesday. "We just want to make sure everyone understands that this is the way things are working right now," said Kenny M.
Naylor, food safety and consumer protection services director at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Naylor's office issues licenses related to the pilot program and administers a certified seed program for industrial hemp, a form of cannabis with lower THC levels than marijuana. The office does not yet, however, have jurisdiction over the processing, sale or distribution of industrial hemp.
On Wednesday, Naylor said Congress indeed has legalized the crop by approving the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The measure removed industrial hemp from the Schedule 1 category of the Controlled Substances Act, authorized crop insurance for industrial hemp and allowed
for hemp clones and seedlings to cross state lines. President Trump signed the bill into law in early January.
However, the partial government shutdown sidetracked administrative rules the U.S. Department of Agriculture must write to authorize those changes and others.
Scott Biggs, executive director of the Oklahoma Farm Service Agency, part of the USDA, said Wednesday the USDA still is working on the administrative rules his offices will use to support industrial hemp growers.
The Farm Service Agency, he explained, offers a variety of programs to give agriculture growers a safety net they can use to help support their operations. Those include crop insurance, disaster assistance mitigations and loans that support farmers seeking either to start or expand their businesses.
Industrial hemp growers will be offered those services once rules are in place, but they won't be available in time for this year's growing season, he said.
Plus, Oklahoma still must update its laws to conform to federal rules and submit those plans to the USDA for approval.
Naylor said several bills are pending before the state legislature this session that could authorize moving forward with those activities. But until that happens, he stressed the only way to grow industrial hemp in Oklahoma this year is to have already been involved in Oklahoma's pilot program.
The 2018 law authorized Oklahoma universities and colleges with plant science curricula to apply for an annual license from the state agriculture department to grow industrial hemp for research. Eight schools received licenses.
The law also authorized independent producers to obtain licenses through participating schools to take part in the pilot. Officials said 28 did, and grew a 2018 crop on 445 acres of farmland and 80,000 square feet (about 2 acres) of indoor growing area. Only a fraction of the crop was harvested.
Naylor said planting season for industrial hemp that will be harvested for seed or for fiber starts in March and runs through May, like the planting season for corn. He said industrial hemp has potential to become an income-producing crop for Oklahoma farmers, given the numerous ways it can be used to make plastics and other products, such as insulation.
While getting Oklahoma's laws in sync with the federal government will take a little time, he noted there is one requirement future growers won't be able to avoid, even after that work is done.
"You are still going to have to get a license to grow hemp," Naylor said.
Biggs agreed and urged potential growers to be patient. "Anybody interested in growing this commodity should be asking questions, whether those are directed to the universities participating in the pilot, or their local extension or farm service agency offices to make sure everything is above board," he said.