USDA pushes requirement for hemp testing to December 2023

On December 6, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service announced that it would delay implementation of a requirement that all commercial hemp bust be tested by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered laboratory.
The announcement comes as due to severe inadequacies with the number of DEA- registered labs and an inability by those registered to hand the testing capacity that would be required.
The original deadline was set to be January 1 2023, but with too few registered labs, the USDA has moved the target date to  December 31, 2023.
Read the original release below:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service is delaying until Dec.31, 2023, the enforcement of a requirement that all hemp must be tested by a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered laboratory. The original deadline for hemp producers to meet the requirement was Jan. 1, 2023. Due to inadequate DEA-registered laboratory testing capacity, testing can be conducted by labs that are not registered with DEA until Dec. 31, 2023. Laboratories testing hemp must comply with all other regulatory requirements.

USDA is delaying enforcement of this requirement based on input received from state and tribal governments and third-party cannabis testing facilities that have experienced delays in completing the DEA laboratory registration process. Because of these delays, USDA is concerned there will be inadequate hemp laboratory testing capacity for the 2023 growing season.

More information regarding this notice is available on the AMS Hemp Analytical Testing Laboratories webpage.

For questions concerning this notice, contact Bill Richmond, Chief, U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program, at farmbill.hemp@usda.gov or 1-888-721-HEMP.

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