A U.S. senator has asked the Department of Agriculture to delay issuing final hemp rules under the 2018 Farm Bill until 2022, to delay costs associated with the new U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer called for the delay in a letter to the USDA last week. If implementation of the new rules is postponed, hemp growers and producers could continue to operate under the 2014 Farm Bill‘s pilot program. That would let them avoid what USDA estimates as $17,000 (€14,500) in compliance costs associated with the new rules.