By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Hemp production got a big boost in the latest Farm Bill passed by Congress.

Now, the United States Department of Agriculture just needs to decide how to regulate it.

Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Greg Ibach, says his department is working on regulations.

“Trying to figure out how we’re going to be able to roll out something for the 2020 growing season. We’re going to utilize the provision in the Farm Bill that allows us to extend the 2014 provisions for hemp rules to those states that already have those in place for this growing season,” Ibach tells farm broadcasters.

Ibach, former Nebraska State Agriculture Director, says the USDA isn’t approving any state plans yet, until it completes the federal regulations.

“So, we have a lot of variation out there between states and how they have set up their internal rules and regulations, how they do testing,” Ibach says. “So, we’re spending time right now not only talking to states, but talking to the hemp industry as well to try to understand what’s the best attributes of some of those state plans to incorporate into a federal regulatory process.”

Ibach says he hopes to approve state plans before next year.