The existing THC testing protocols in a number of states have not gone down well with hemp experts. This conclusion was due to an incident where farmers in Colorado had to destroy 741 acres of hemp in 2018 because it exceeded the state’s regulatory THC limit.
The experts mentioned that the THC testing standard in Colorado was meaningless since the state only tested the first two inches of the plant and yet products were made from the entire plant, or a mix of different parts.
The testing procedure, which requires only the top two inches to be tested, doesn’t make sense according to industry experts. They argued that the THC content is highly concentrated in that area of the plant, so the plant will obviously fail a regulatory compliance test.
During the Hemp-CBD Supplement Congress on August 16, the founder and CSO of ProVerde Laboratories Inc., in Milford, Massachusetts, Chris Hudalla, added that the state in which the hemp plant is grown matters a lot. This is because the state is responsible for the collection and testing of the THC level. Hudalla further stated that the results of the THC test would depend on whether the testing protocol will combine the top, middle and the bottom of the hemp plant.
Other states have appropriate sampling methods. Vermont, for example, tests the top eight inches of a plant’s sidearm flower according to the agency of agriculture. The same also applies to the state of Oregon. It isn’t therefore surprising that less than 1% of pre-harvest tests failed in 2018 in Oregon.
Even though Colorado has a rule that allows hemp plant that exceeds 0.3% and less than 1% to be utilized according to Commissioner of Agriculture’s approval and verification, there have not been any approved methods of doing so.
Supporting the industry experts and farmers’ grievances, Attorney Maureen West, who previously worked for three years at Colorado Department of Agriculture, said that solutions have to found to prevent farmers from destroying crops.
In Vermont, for instance, hemp farmers are allowed to salvage their crops under certain conditions when the THC has exceeded the legal limit. The conditions state that the THC must be less than 1% and higher than 0.3 percent. If Colorado had the same requirements, farmers in Colorado wouldn’t have had to destroy their crops.
Even though the industry experts are frustrated, they are hopeful that before the 2020 planting season, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will publicize reasonable standards for the testing of THC in the production of hemp. According to a USDA spokesperson, a draft of the new rules was sent for inter-agency review to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Hemp industry experts believe that industry actors like Sugarmade Inc. (OTCQB: SGMD) and The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (TSX: TGOD) (OTCQX: TGODF) strongly agree that it is more reasonable to have a representative sample of hemp for THC testing rather than sticking to the top part of the plant alone.
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