Some Wisconsin hemp growers say state agriculture officials didn’t test their fields on time, making their crop more likely to surpass the allowed THC level.
Under the state’s industrial hemp research pilot program, growers are required to notify the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection that they intend to harvest in 30 days. Growers then pay for the state to test their crop for THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana.
FL Morris is president of South Central Wisconsin Hemp, a farmer cooperative growing organic hemp for CBD. She said seven farmers in her cooperative are growing hemp this year and all of them submitted their 30-day harvest notification within a week of each other.
“The discrepancies of when we were actually sampled are huge,” Morris said. “We had one grower that actually gave her 30-day harvest notification one day before another grower, but she was tested 27 days after that other grower.”
As an industrial hemp plant ages, the level of THC continues to rise. Morris said DATCP’s delay in testing could be why one of the growers in her cooperative had a crop test too high for THC. She said state ag officials tested the crop one day after the grower’s target harvest date.
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