NEWS: The Wisconsin hemp program, currently administered by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), will transition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) starting January 1, 2022.
Under the 2014 Farm Bill, Wisconsin and many other states and tribes in the U.S. set up pilot hemp programs. The 2018 Farm Bill gave states and tribal nations the choice of developing new programs conforming to USDA rules or else deferring to the new USDA-administered program.
Wisconsin and North Carolina have announced they will join three other states – Hawaii, Mississippi, and New Hampshire with federal-run hemp programs. The hemp industry press reports that states are becoming increasingly wary of running their own hemp-production programs because of mounting costs and labor requirements for compliance testing and enforcement. DATCP says that the governor’s 2021-2023 budget proposal provided ongoing staffing resources to support the hemp program, but those resources were not included in the final version of the budget passed by the legislature.
Randy Romanski, DATCP Secretary-designee, said “We believe this transition will provide hemp growers with the greatest opportunity to produce hemp in Wisconsin.” DATCP says that benefits of a federal-run program include:
- No licensing fees,
- A three-year federal license instead of annual,
- Some flexibility utilizing private sampling and testing services, and
- More streamlined program rule changes. Growers will need to comply with just the federal program rules. To date, DATCP has had to promulgate emergency rule changes, update program operations, and conduct outreach to growers when a federal rule change was made.
Starting January 1, 2022, hemp growers will transition to the federal-run program. Growers will continue to work with DATCP for the current growing season for harvest notifications, sample collection, and testing until December 31, 2021. Growers are encouraged to have samples collected no later than December 23 in order to have the testing completed by the end of the year.
Hemp processors will no longer need a DATCP license to process hemp, but will remain under DATCP’s current authority for consumer and food products regarding the quality and safety of hemp as described at this link.
Sara Walling, DATCP’s Division of Agriculture Resource Management Administrator said “Because state-run hemp programs must also meet federal requirements, Wisconsin’s hemp program is already in close alignment with USDA. We are collaborating with USDA for a smooth transition and providing hemp growers with the resources they need to understand any changes.”
DATCP and USDA will hold a joint webinar from 1-3 p.m. on September 15 for growers to learn how to locate and work with their local USDA office and how to apply for a USDA hemp license. Growers can register in advance with USDA for the webinar. The link to register is also available on DATCP’s website, as will be the recording of the webinar. A transition checklist for growers is also available.
Information about the USDA Hemp Program is available here. Questions may be submitted via email; or call (202) 720-2491 for additional information.
DATCP will post hemp program updates online as more details about the transition becomes available.