Indiana’s hemp regulations have won federal approval and will be in place for the 2021 growing season – while another hemp state with federal approval, Tennessee, is bowing out of the federal framework for another year.
The Indiana plan was announced this week by Purdue University. Hemp there will be overseen by the Office of the Indiana State Chemist, with applications for the 2021 growing season opening Nov. 1.
Indiana will require interested hemp growers to submit a “crop-monitoring plan to avoid exceeding 0.3% total THC” along with their applications, which cost $1,000 a year. Hemp processors in Indiana will also be charged $1,000 a year.
Also this week, Tennessee agriculture authorities announced that they’re going to hold off on implementing a hemp oversight plan approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last summer. That means Tennessee’s 1,800 hemp farmers will be able to operate under less-restrictive rules for next growing season, including a 30-day sampling window instead of the 15-day sampling window ordered by the USDA.
“This extension will give hemp growers more time to transition to new program guidelines and to better understand federal expectations,” Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher said in a statement.
