Hemp Application Deadline Nearing in Alabama
The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) wants to remind eligible hemp growers and processors/handlers the deadline to apply for a hemp license for the 2021 crop is November 30, 2020 by 5:00 pm (CST). ADAI will accept hemp applications using their new online application system: agi.alabama.gov/hempapp.
In 2016, the Alabama Legislature passed the Alabama Industrial Hemp Research Program Act, Section 2-8-380 Code of Alabama 1975, which tasked ADAI with the development of a licensing and inspection program for the production of industrial hemp. The program launched in 2019, after The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (i.e. Farm Bill) declassified hemp as a schedule I drug and deemed hemp as an agriculture commodity. This legislation defines hemp as all parts of the plant containing less than 0.3% THC, including derivatives, extracts, and cannabinoids.
In a statement, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate said “This is the department’s third year to administer the hemp program. It has always been our goal to manage the program in a fair and timely manner to benefit Alabama farmers and hemp producers and develop industrial hemp as an alternative crop.”
