The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to solicit hemp production data and other information from upwards of 20,000 licensed growers in an apparent effort to better understand the emerging marketplace.
The public comment period is open on this request, which was filed with the Federal Register and first reported by Marijuana Moment.
The extent of the data collection project isn’t fully explained in the request, but associate administrator Kevin Barnes writes that the intent is to facilitate “the proper performance of the functions of the agency.
Looking ahead, the USDA may also be in a position to prepare itself for the 2022 Census of Agriculture, which will include hemp for the first time. At the beginning of this year, the USDA sent out approximately 36,000 content tests to hemp farmers around the U.S. The data collected in that process will shape the country’s understanding of the hemp market on a much deeper level—informing the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service on how to allocate future federal funding.
