Hemp is one of the most valuable crops in agriculture, as it can be used for many purposes, but what farmers say is slowing down the boom of the plant here in West Virginia are the industry's regulations. Jeff Reckart, owner of Touch of Green Farms in Preston County, produces CBD products like oils, topicals and flower at his farm. On Tuesday, hundreds of dollars' worth of his hemp plants were burned because they tested 13.3% higher than the legal limit of THC.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) follows USDA regulations that THC in hemp plants must be below .3%. With Reckart's hemp testing at .34%, he said that the limit has caused hemp farmers around the country to lose their crops and the dollars they invested in them.
"Whenever I'm manufacturing oil, I can take all the THC out of this oil, you know what I mean. So, it's senseless to have to burn all of this plant because when we run it through the processing procedure, we fractionate off the THC," Reckart said.
Even after his product is manufactured, it then has to go through another round of testing to ensure there is no THC in the product. The process to obtain a hemp license in West Virginia requires application fees, registration fees and testing fees. A $200 registration fee is also required for each product, and the WVDA caps the fee at $2,000 a year.
Read more at WTRF
