The North Carolina Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA) has announced it will eliminate its state-run hemp program by the
end of 2021.
On Jan. 1, 2022, growers in
the state will switch to operating under the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), which will monitor North Carolina’s hemp program.
According to a press release from the NCDA, there are approximately 1,500
licensed hemp growers in the state who have registered roughly 6.8 million
licensed square feet of greenhouse production and 14,016 licensed acres.
Additionally, there are nearly 1,300 registered processors in the state. All
licenses issued by the state’s pilot program will remain valid until Dec. 31.
However, beginning Jan. 1, 2022,
North Carolina farmers interested in growing hemp will need to seek licensure
directly from the USDA, the release states.
“We will be working with
licensed growers as this transition takes place,” said Phil Wilson, director of
the NCDA Plant Industry Division, in a press release. “We will extend the
licenses of growers who will need to renew between now and Jan. 1, 2022, to
ensure there is no lapse in them having a valid license. Growers wanting to
continue production can go ahead and begin the application process now through
USDA’s online hemp application.”
According to an article
from JD Supra, growers may want to
begin the application process as soon as possible to ensure they have a USDA
license by the beginning of next year to continue operations and avoid any
challenges.
And greenhouse growers
looking to plant later this year should look to apply for a license even
sooner, as a USDA license will be required for them to harvest in 2022,
according to the article.
Furthermore, the article
states farmers will no longer work alongside the NCDA to conduct compliance
testing. Moving forward, growers will need to perform testing elsewhere and
change existing operations to be in compliance with the USDA.
More information regarding
the program and the application can be found here.
