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Law360 (August 10, 2020, 8:02 PM EDT) -- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to delay issuing a final rule on the Domestic Hemp Production Program until 2022, saying additional regulations on top of COVID-19-related devastation will crush the hemp industry.
Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Friday that delaying the regulations would help New York recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic and allow the hemp industry to create jobs "at a time when jobs are needed the most."
"When it comes to an industry as promising as industrial hemp in upstate New York, the feds must do everything they can to nurture its potential," Schumer said in a statement. "Regulating this rapidly-emerging industry is a must, but the timing of new regulations is important and the current economic crisis must be considered."
Schumer said that farmers have reported that the costs of meeting the compliance and testing regulations under the USDA's interim final rules "has proven to be suffocating for the emerging industry," adding that implementing the final rules now would require states slammed with COVID-19-related issues to change their hemp pilot program budgets to meet the standards.
He said the timing and testing outlined in the interim final rules would also likely push farmers to rush their harvests, thereby increasing the number of people working in facilities and the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The USDA should delay the final rule implementation until January 2022 and allow states to continue operating under the 2014 Farm Bill, Schumer said.
"COVID creates hurdles for states and producers to comply with the interim final rules," Schumer said in a letter to the USDA. "Under the circumstances, the interim final rules will harm the very businesses we hoped to help with this new agricultural commodity."
The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
After the 2018 Farm Bill legalized nonpsychoactive hemp, the crop existed in a legal gray zone in the absence of a broad regulatory framework. Under the USDA's October 2019 interim rule, the agency can approve hemp production plans developed by states and Native American tribes, which must include certain testing requirements, steps for disposing of plants and licensing requirements for farmers.
Within two weeks, the USDA was flooded with criticism from hemp farmers who warned that the interim rule's regulations restricting the crop's THC content could choke the industry. Lawmakers in Oregon and Virginia also criticized the regulations as burdensome.
Many hemp farmers said the USDA overstepped its role in implementing the 2018 Farm Bill, taking issue specifically with the total THC limit allowed by the interim final rule.
--Additional reporting by Sam Reisman and Diana Novak Jones. Editing by Jack Karp.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
