The USDA has finally addressed "hot hemp." The decision is great news for the hemp industry.
The USDA has finally addressed "hot hemp." The decision is great news for the hemp industry.
Although legal hemp may contain up to 0.3% THC, occasionally the THC levels of a hemp crop may unexpectedly rise, rendering the industrial hemp just as illegal as cannabis.
Spikes in THC levels are often attributed to a number of suspected causes, including the climate. However, varying environmental conditions aren’t the only reason for plants testing with high THC levels.
According to a study by Cornell, a hemp plant's propensity to “go hot” – become too high in THC – is determined by genetics, not as a stress response to growing conditions, contrary to popular belief.
In their Final Rule for the hemp industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised THC levels that trigger eradication to 1% rather than the previous 0.5%. Industrial hemp standards under U.S. law remain 0.3% but the Agricultural Marketing Service – a division of the USDA – said the “statute [does] not define negligent violation.”
The new rules are set to take effect on March 22; however, they will likely be frozen by the Biden Administration as is standard procedure during a presidential transition for new rules and revisions issued by the outgoing administration.
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