Marijuana <oment
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking White House approval for updates to a series of forms it distributes to hemp farmers and regulators to better understand the state of the industry.
As a federal ban on hemp-derived THC products looms after President Donald Trump signed a large-scale bill with recriminalization provisions last year, USDA said in a notice published in the Federal Register on Wednesday that it wants the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review seven forms it plans to revise and disseminate for information-gathering purposes.
“In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) intention to request an extension and revision to the approved forms hemp producers licensed by USDA as well as States, Territories, and Tribes with approved hemp production plans must complete as part of the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program,” USDA said.
The forms the department is soliciting input on include those that collect data on licensing status, remediation practices for hemp that tests above the federal THC limit, total acreage for the cannabis crop, lab testing results and more.
USDA will accept public comment on the proposed extension and revisions of the forms through March 30.
Comments on the functionality of the forms, accuracy of estimated burden on respondents, opportunities to further enhance the data collection and ways to “minimize the burden” of completing the forms are all welcome, the department said.
USDA started annually surveying hemp farmers across the country shortly after the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill. And while the value of hemp increased from 2023 to 2024, industry stakeholders have routinely pointed to the lower-than-expected average value of products such as grain, fiber and consumable cannabinoids as a reflection of insufficient regulatory policies.
A report from the research firm Whitney Economics that was published last year found that USDA is “undervaluing” the hemp industry, relying on market research in a way that could be “inadvertently hurting the very same farmers they are trying to regulate.”
The report identified an improper methodology for data collection on the value of the cannabis crop that’s “contributing to the misperception that farmers are not benefiting from the rise in the hemp-derived cannabinoid industry.”
While USDA collects data from hemp farmers in much the same way as other commercial crops—soliciting information about total yields and the purpose of the production, for example—Whitney Economics said the department is not accurately accounting for the unique value of floral hemp in the marketplace. Instead, it assesses value based on “a blended average of the sales of biomass and the flower.”
