Hemp Leaders Voice Support for USDA Pilot Program Expansion

By National Industrial Hemp Council|September 26, 2020

The House of Representatives has released guidelines for legislation that will keep the government operating at current funding levels while extending the USDA’s hemp pilot program.

“We see this as a positive development for hemp farmers across the country,” says Patrick Atagi, Board Chairman of the National Industrial Hemp Council. “The hemp industry isn’t any different from other facets of our economy that have been adversely affected by COVID-19. We’ve continued to tell Congress that a global pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for states to meet and develop plans to be submitted to the USDA for approval before the expiration of the pilot program.”

In August, the NIHC joined the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) in writing to both House and Senate appropriators asking that the hemp pilot program be extended as part of any coronavirus relief package or as part of a continuing resolution. The NIHC and NASDA also that same day wrote to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue asking for him to use his discretion to extend the hemp pilot program, and in a relatively unprecedented move, USDA re-opened the comment period on the hemp interim final rule.

Growers across the country have been able to legally produce hemp since the 2014 Farm Bill was signed into law. That bill created a pilot program for hemp to be grown in states with plans that received USDA approval. After passage of the 2018 Farm Bill that removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, states had a deadline of Oct. 31, 2020 to submit final plans to the USDA for approval as the pilot program was expiring. The global pandemic has presented obstacles for state departments of agriculture to finalize plans and submit them to the USDA for approval.

“As Washington’s leading voice for hemp, we’re pleased the House is listening to us,” Atagi says. “We’re going to continue to press the case on both sides of the Capitol about why this program is so important.”