The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly referred to as the 2018 Farm Bill, has legalized the production of hemp. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is the lead USDA agency to administer the new USDA Hemp Production Program. AMS, which is developing regulations to implement the 2018 Farm Bill provisions announced in the June 24, 2019, Federal Register that it expects to release a final rule in August
Growers in states that have already legalized hemp have been growing the crop according to their state’s regulations. Industry consultant John Dol at CannabiDol has been contacted by both greenhouse vegetable and greenhouse ornamental plant growers about switching to both hemp and cannabis.
“There are people who have been in the vegetable or ornamental plant industry who have made the switch,” Dol said. “There are also people who have been growing cannabis for some time and are looking to expand to a larger production facility.
“One of the challenges is not everyone has the ability/skill set from a managerial point of view. People in the greenhouse industry who have been exposed to managing people, crop scheduling and facility management have found it easier to make the transition to large scale cannabis production. However, specific cannabis plant knowledge will be stronger with the traditional industry players. I think a combination of both these factors in a management team will set a growing operation up for success.”
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