The IL state Agriculture Department has submitted its final draft of rules for the industrial hemp program.
When the 2014 Farm Bill authorized limited hemp production for research purposes, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture administered the program. And until regulations are promulgated for implementing the hemp provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill that will remain unchanged. In the meantime, the Agricultural Marketing Service’s Specialty Crops Program has begun collecting information to inform a future rulemaking, and that program will also be charged with writing the implementing regulations and reviewing state plans.
For states interested in establishing their own industrial hemp program, the 2018 Farm Bill laid out specific requirements for what a state plan needs to contain. These include procedures regarding land to be used for planting, testing, effective disposal of plants and products, compliance with law enforcement, annual inspections and submission of information to USDA. Over the coming months, USDA will solicit input from stakeholders to help inform the rules that will govern these aspects of industrial hemp production.
Read more here regarding the IL rules.
