{"id":24808,"date":"2020-10-30T10:26:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T14:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=24808"},"modified":"2020-10-30T10:47:19","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T14:47:19","slug":"new-regulations-expand-hemp-program-to-commercial-growers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/10\/30\/new-regulations-expand-hemp-program-to-commercial-growers\/","title":{"rendered":"New Regulations Expand Hemp Program to Commercial Growers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"24809\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/10\/30\/new-regulations-expand-hemp-program-to-commercial-growers\/attachment\/mda-graphics-4\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png?fit=1024%2C512&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1024,512\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"MDA Graphics (4)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png?fit=760%2C380&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24809\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png?resize=760%2C380\" alt=\"\" width=\"760\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png?resize=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/10\/MDA-Graphics-4.png?resize=768%2C384&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<h3><strong><i>Regulations go into effect November 1<\/i><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>ANNAPOLIS, MD (Oct. 30, 2020)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture has adopted new regulations that will expand the state\u2019s industrial hemp program. The new regulations (COMAR 15.01.17.01-.18) bring the state\u2019s program into compliance with provisions of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, and will establish industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHemp is an emerging agricultural commodity that presents a new opportunity for farmers looking to diversify their operations,\u201d said Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. \u201cWe have seen significant interest in the first two years of the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program and we are excited to expand the state\u2019s hemp industry with the new Hemp Farming Program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under the new <\/span><b>Hemp Farming Program<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, growers may apply to produce and cultivate hemp for commercial purposes. In previous years, Maryland growers have only been able to produce hemp under the department\u2019s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In January 2019, the department began accepting applications for its <\/span><b>Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The pilot program is the result of Maryland House Bill 698, a 2018 state law that required growers to partner with the department or an institution of higher learning to grow industrial hemp for research purposes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Applications for both programs\u2019 2021 growing season will be announced and posted on the program\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/plants-pests\/Pages\/Industrial-Hemp.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the coming weeks. For more information on both programs, please contact Jim Drews at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:jim.drews@maryland.gov\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">jim.drews@maryland.gov<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">or 410-841-5962.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"># # #<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/mdagdept\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@MdAgDept<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regulations go into effect November 1 ANNAPOLIS, MD (Oct. 30, 2020)\u00a0\u2013 The Maryland Department of Agriculture has adopted new regulations that will expand the state\u2019s industrial hemp program. The new regulations (COMAR 15.01.17.01-.18) bring the state\u2019s program into compliance with provisions of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, and will establish industrial hemp as an agricultural<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2020\/10\/30\/new-regulations-expand-hemp-program-to-commercial-growers\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24808"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24811,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24808\/revisions\/24811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}