The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the delay of enforcement of certain requirements under the interim final rule (IFR) establishing the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program. Under the new guidance, USDA will delay enforcement of the requirement for labs to be registered by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the requirement that producers use a DEA-registered reverse distributor or law enforcement to dispose of non-compliant plants under certain circumstances. While lab tests can be conducted by labs that are not yet registered with DEA, the labs must still meet all the other requirements in the IFR.

In addition, USDA is offering additional options for the disposal of “hot” hemp plants. Some of these new options include plowing under non-compliant plants or composting into “green manure” for use on the same land. A list of allowed disposal techniques and descriptions is available on the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program web page.

Enforcement will be delayed starting this crop year and until Oct. 31, 2021, or the final rule is published, whichever comes first.