The North Dakota Department of Agriculture has already had its state hemp plan rejected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. State Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring says they submitted their proposal before the agency came out with the federal rules and they were caught off guard by some of the implementation requirements.
He says the biggest reason USDA rejected the state plan was the inadequate sampling and testing protocol used for determining THC levels in industrial hemp fields. Goehring says USDA’s rules also bring FDA and DEA into the plan, which they were not anticipating.
Goehring says what this means for the 2020 growing season is North Dakota will continue to operate under the pilot program.
He says they’re also working USDA to develop a workable program that can be reasonably funded. Goehring says otherwise they have to ask the state legislature for funding or kick the testing back to USDA which has $16 million allocated for that part of the program.
