Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bipartisan bill Nov. 26 that makes the state’s 2018 hemp pilot program permanent and aligns its rules with requirements laid out in the 2018 Farm Bill, according to a Star Tribune report.

“I was proud to sign this collaborative, bipartisan bill into law today to ensure the continued success of our hemp program and the many new opportunities hemp provides to Wisconsin farmers,” Evers said in a public statement.

In its first year, Wisconsin’s hemp pilot program saw 250 licensed growers, the Star Tribune reported. This year, the state licensed 1,247 growers and 556 processors, according to the news outlet.

The legislation ensures continued growth for the program, and makes technical changes to the state’s hemp law, such as allowing for a THC concentration of up to 0.3% in the bloodstream for people who may be using legal CBD products, the Star Tribune reported.

Any crop that contains above 0.3% THC must be destroyed, an issue that several of the state’s farmers wrestled with this past harvest season. Farmers in the South Central Wisconsin Hemp cooperative blamed delays in state testing for their “hot” crops, for example, demonstrating the broader issue of the THC cap in the emerging U.S. hemp industry.

Under the new legislation, Wisconsin’s state agriculture department would be authorized to hire third-party contractors to assist with testing, according to a Wisconsin Public Radio report.

As more farmers take up hemp cultivation, they should be aware of the common and serious diseases that can cause significant crop loss. The 2018 Farm Bill created opportunities for universities to begin studying and researching the pathogens that can impact the hemp plant, and information is beginning to emerge about best practices to manage diseases.

RELATED: Common Marijuana & Hemp Diseases

Here, Janna Beckerman, professor and extension plant pathologist in the Department of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, shares insights into identifying, treating and trying to prevent these pathogens in order to minimize damage and widespread infection.

Hemp Grower: What are some common pathogens that can affect hemp crops?

Janna Beckerman: Every day there are new ones or reports of new ones. Most people see the foliar disease problems long before they actually think of looking at the roots, so I think most common would be problems like powdery mildew. We’ve had several reports of people growing hemp for CBD or for oil, seed or fiber who had problems with rust, and a number of different leaf spot pathogens. We did have people who had planting problems, where the stand didn’t emerge, so these would be the damping off fungi. They didn’t send samples in for diagnoses, but common damping off fungi are pythium, rhizoctonia, fusarium and phytophthora. Especially in the Midwest, it was quite a year because it was so unusually wet.

HG: How can cultivators work to prevent these pathogens?

JB: There are issues where you can grow things in high tunnels, for example. If you are growing hemp for CBD production, that might be an option that you might consider. You can’t prevent rain, but you can keep it out. I’m not saying this is a practice for everybody, but everything comes down to trade-offs, and this would be one potential trade-off that you could do to circumvent rainy conditions in your climate.

Another would be using disease-resistant varieties. Unfortunately, there’s so much by way of new genetics and genetics that aren’t what they say they are that it really is a sketchy period at this point in time as to what’s going on on the breeding side. So, that’s hard to say, but I know we have noticed that certain varieties of hemp are more susceptible to certain diseases than other varieties, and that’s true of all plants and their pathogens. I think as time goes on, we’ll have a better grasp of what is and isn’t susceptible and resistant. I would, at this point, be hesitant to say anything because if someone is telling me it’s variety x, I’m seeing rust on variety x, but it might not actually be variety x, we don’t know what we have. There’s a lack of regulation and standardization is a problem, and intellectual property and patents are also issues.

HG: What are some best practices to identify these pathogens?

JB: Scouting is so important—going out and checking on your crops. Obviously, every day isn’t possible for everyone, but [scouting should be done at least] every few days. One of the issues is even if you identify it quickly, oftentimes there are very few pesticides that are labeled for control and even fewer that are actually effective at controlling pathogens, so you’re kind of stuck.

RELATED: Purdue Researchers Tackle Cannabis Industry’s Pesticide Problem

Some of the things that you can do if you suspect you have a plant disease problem or a plant insect problem is contacting your state diagnostic labs. At least now, most state diagnostics labs can accept samples and diagnose the problem. We certainly can do that here at Purdue. We just ask that you make sure that you’re sending us hemp.

HG: What are some common treatments for pathogens to minimize damage?

JB: Obviously, growing healthy plants is the No. 1 step for reducing the possibility of disease. Many pathogens end up infecting because of too much fertilizer, which is always, I find, a bigger problem than not enough fertilizer. So, make sure you’re fertilizing correctly. This is a challenge because, again, we don’t have all that much information agronomically for what works best. We’re not at a state like where we are for corn and soybeans, for example, so using judicious applications of fertilizer would be your first step.

Make sure your plants are properly spaced. If you’re growing in a greenhouse or any kind of shade house, make sure you practice proper sanitation, so you’re not tracking things in from other places, bringing the problems to you. Pruning sometimes can help. This would be for more high-value CBD crops, where you increase the airflow, which allows the foliage to dry—that’s another approach. Make sure you have good weed control. A number of weeds that commonly infest agronomic crops or horticulture crops serve as reservoirs for other pathogens, whether that’s viral or fungal or even downy mildew. We had huge outbreaks of downy mildew in several areas of the Midwest this year on cannabis.

HG: What do you hope attendees will bring back to their business from your session at Cannabis Conference 2020?

JB: Hopefully, they’ll become educated and not scared. I think this is one of these fields where people are very enthusiastic going in, and they can become quickly discouraged with some of the problems. I think the problems are to be expected, but they can be managed. You need to be patient and take the opportunity to learn, like this opportunity here. I hope they’ll come away feeling more confident in their ability to successfully grow their crop.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PRESS RELEASE--Cresco Labs, one of the largest vertically integrated multistate cannabis operators in the United States, has announced the signing of a binding agreement for the sale-and-leaseback of two properties in Ohio and Michigan, for total additional non-dilutive funding of approximately $38 million. The company also announced the mutual termination of the Equity Purchase Agreement pursuant to which a subsidiary of Cresco Labs would have acquired the ownership interests or assets of VidaCann Ltd. and/or affiliated entities. The transaction was originally announced on March 18, 2019.

“We recognize that responsibly allocating our shareholders’ capital is fundamental to long-term success. While it sometimes means making tough decisions, we are committed to executing on a superior capital agenda, responsibly accelerating the top and bottom-line, executing thoughtful and accretive M&A transactions, and generating efficiencies as we scale,” said Cresco Labs CEO and Co-Founder Charlie Bachtell. “With the flexibility to continue to leverage non-dilutive funding options like sale-lease-back agreements, we are well-positioned to continue executing on our strategy to build the most important, enduring company in U.S. cannabis.”

Bachtell continued, “With these two announcements, we have effectively strengthened our balance sheet to the tune of nearly $158 million between new non-dilutive funding and the elimination of a significant near-term cash outlay earmarked for the transaction. The team and operations at VidaCann are phenomenal, but with a focus on managing our cost of capital, and insuring the most efficient and highest return on invested capital, the ability to deploy resources to other, existing, Cresco markets that are widely considered some of the top markets in the US, like Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and Nevada, has to take priority. On Jan. 1st, our home state of Illinois will migrate from a $250M medical program to an estimated $2B -$4B adult-use market at maturity – we currently have the leading market share and, as the only company with three cultivation/manufacturing licenses, we have an unmatched opportunity to materially increase our market lead. In light of the Illinois opportunity, growth of the Pennsylvania market with similar opportunities to increase our already leading market presence through additional expansion, as well as near-term opportunities in California, through Origin House, we believe it’s in the best interest of our shareholders to re-allocate resources to these existing higher return opportunities with a view to looking for a more capital efficient way to enter the Florida market over the longer term.”

Sale-and-Leaseback

The company has signed binding agreements to sell its Yellow Springs, Ohio and Marshall, Mich. properties to Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIP) for approximately $38 million in total, which amount includes funding for additional tenant improvements at both properties. Concurrent with the closing of the sale, Cresco Labs will enter into long-term, triple-net lease agreements with IIP and will continue to operate each property as a licensed cannabis cultivation and processing facility. The two properties represent approximately 166,500 square feet of industrial space in aggregate. The sales of the properties are expected to close within the next 30 days, with closings subject to IIP’s completion of diligence and satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

The company will discuss both of these announcements during its scheduled third quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. EST.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to 15 companies Nov. 25 for illegally selling CBD products in ways that violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act, according to a press release.

The agency also published a revised Consumer Update that outlines its broader safety concerns about CBD products, including potential liver injury, interactions with other drugs and more.

The companies that were issued warning letters have been marketing CBD products on webpages, in online stores and on social media to treat diseases, for therapeutic uses, as dietary supplements, and in human and animal foods, according to the release.

These companies include:

• Koi CBD LLC, of Norwalk, Calif.
• Pink Collections Inc., of Beverly Hills, Calif.
• Noli Oil, of Southlake, Texas
• Natural Native LLC, of Norman, Okla.
• Whole Leaf Organics LLC, of Sherman Oaks, Calif.
• Infinite Product Company LLLP, doing business as Infinite CBD, of Lakewood, Colo.
• Apex Hemp Oil LLC, of Redmond, Ore.
• Bella Rose Labs, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Sunflora Inc., of Tampa, Fla./Your CBD Store, of Bradenton, Fla.
• Healthy Hemp Strategies LLC, doing business as Curapure, of Concord, Calif.
• Private I Salon LLC, of Charlotte, N.C.
• Organix Industries Inc., doing business as Plant Organix, of San Bernardino, Calif.
• Red Pill Medical Inc., of Phoenix, Ariz.
• Sabai Ventures Ltd., of Los Angeles, Calif.
• Daddy Burt LLC, doing business as Daddy Burt Hemp Co., of Lexington, Ky.

The FDA has requested that the companies respond, indicating how they plan to correct the violations, within 15 working days. Companies that fail to correct the violations may face legal action, including product seizure or injunction, according to the release.

This is not the first time that companies have been issued warning letters for illegally marketing CBD products. Curaleaf, for example, received a warning letter this summer for selling unapproved products with unsubstantiated health claims that the products treat cancer and Parkinson’s disease, among other health conditions. Curaleaf responded by removing the health claims from its website and social media accounts.

In its announcement, the FDA indicated “that it cannot conclude that CBD is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) among qualified experts for its use in human or animal food.”

The FDA continues to explore ways for CBD products to be legally marketed, according to the release, and it plans to provide an update on its progress “in the coming weeks.”

“As we work quickly to further clarify our regulatory approach for products containing cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds like CBD, we’ll continue to monitor the marketplace and take action as needed against companies that violate the law in ways that raise a variety of public health concerns,” said FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., in a public statement. “In line with our mission to protect the public, foster innovation, and promote consumer confidence, this overarching approach regarding CBD is the same as the FDA would take for any other substance that we regulate. We remain concerned that some people wrongly think that the myriad of CBD products on the market, many of which are illegal, have been evaluated by the FDA and determined to be safe, or that trying CBD ‘can’t hurt.’ Aside from one prescription drug approved to treat two pediatric epilepsy disorders, these products have not been approved by the FDA and we want to be clear that a number of questions remain regarding CBD’s safety—including reports of products containing contaminants, such as pesticides and heavy metals—and there are real risks that need to be considered. We recognize the significant public interest in CBD and we must work together with stakeholders and industry to fill in the knowledge gaps about the science, safety and quality of many of these products."