Representatives of the new Biden administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) held their first meeting with hemp industry stakeholders last week to learn about the market’s needs.
During the meeting, National Industrial Hemp Council (NIHC) board chair Patrick Atagi talked to Acting Agriculture Secretary Kevin Shea about key areas of interest for hemp businesses, especially as they concern testing and certification labs.
They also covered issues such as regulatory enforcement, a hemp checkoff program that’s in the works, trade standards and increasing research and development for the crop.
Atagi told that a primary purpose of the meeting was “just to make sure that USDA is working on hemp issues currently, which they are, but also we have incoming political folks—some who know the hemp industry and some who don’t,” and so the conversation was partly for education.
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