During a recent Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, lawmakers heard the needs of what a U.S. hemp program should address. Kentucky Farmer Brian Furnish told the committee hemp farmers struggle to plant a crop that can emerge, as hemp seed needs very specific conditions for germination and initial growth. He also said weeds are hard to control in hemp because there are currently no crop protection products certified for use on hemp. And according to a story from Gary Crawford, there are lots of questions yet to be answered revolving around the fledgling U.S. hemp industry.
The Department of Agriculture is set to release guidelines regarding hemp sometime this month.