The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) announced its partnership with Roseville Farms to implement an industrial hemp program.
The program, which is led by Brian Pearson, an assistant professor of crop management at the UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, "provides a science-based evaluation of industrial hemp varieties," the organization states in a news release.
The program is designed to test new hemp cultivars, which must be approved before they are produced or sold in the state per the state law and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) rules, the release states.
According to the summary, growers approved to participate in the program will submit cuttings of their cultivar and pay a one-time fee that covers the THC testing portion of the approval process.
The cuttings will then be grown for 12 weeks at Roseville Farms under a controlled environment and then tested to ensure all submitted samples test at or below the state-mandated 0.3% total THC levels, the release states.
UF/IFAS will approve cultivars that meet this requirement, and the approval will be sent to FDACS. This allows the owner of the approved hemp variety or cultivar to legally propagate and sell the vegetative cuttings in Florida, the release states.
Growers interested in the program should visit the Clonally Propagated Hemp Cultivar Approval Program website to submit an application, which is then reviewed by the UF/IFAS faculty and Roseville Farms to determine if the product is eligible for testing.
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