State announces application period for 2020 hemp program

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is preparing for the state’s second year of commercial-scale hemp production, and will begin accepting applications from growers and processors to participate in the 2020 hemp program.

Last year was the first that Pennsylvania’s farmers could grow and process hemp commercially, following passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which allowed for the production and sale of commercial hemp throughout the country.

“The re-emergence of hemp in Pennsylvania represents a bounty of opportunity,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “It’s in our buildings and cars, it’s food and fuel, and it’s power to Pennsylvania’s economy.”

In its first year, the Department of Agriculture permitted 324 growers to raise hemp on more than 4,000 acres. Since the 2019 commercial growing season, the department has prohibited a number of hemp crop varieties that were shown to yield THC levels over the legal limit.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana and the state’s hemp must test below the legal threshold of 0.3 or that product is destroyed.

The department plans to accept applications for the upcoming season from Jan. 4 to April 1.