For landowners and growers in the Louisiana agriculture industry who are considering adding hemp to their farming operations, the following outlines some of the ground rules.

The new Louisiana Industrial Hemp Law* creates four specific methods by which to engage in this new industry, all of which require a license: (1) seed producer, (2) grower, (3) processor and (4) contract carrier.

The Grower License authorizes a person to cultivate and to handle industrial hemp. “Cultivating” is defined by the law as planting, growing and harvesting, and hemp may be cultivated either for fiber or for seed. A licensed grower may also transport hemp, provided it is hemp that has been cultivated by the grower.

A Grower License permits one to cultivate hemp only on land specified in the application, which must be land either owned or controlled (e.g., by written lease) by the applicant. Further, the land must be described by both the legal description and its global positioning coordinates.

To obtain a Growers License, a criminal background check must be submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) that has been performed by Louisiana’s Bureau of Criminal Identification. If a person is found to have been convicted of a felony of any kind within the prior ten years or a drug-related misdemeanor in the prior two years, the application will be denied.

As an annual plant, hemp must be grown from seed every year, and a grower may purchase crop seed only from a licensed seed producer whose inventory has been inspected for percentage THC and given written approval by LDAF.

A grower may not legally harvest his hemp crop until it has first been tested by LDAF to ensure the THC concentration does not exceed 0.3 percent. If approved by LDAF, the crop must then be harvested within fifteen days. If the crop exceeds the 0.3 percent limitation, the crop will be seized or destroyed by LDAF, and at the grower’s loss.

A grower may sell the harvested hemp crop only to a licensed processor, to whom the grower must give a copy of the written approval by LDAF and from whom the grower must obtain a written receipt for the crop.

Finally, the law mandates that a grower maintain and produce to LDAF documentation of traceability from seed acquisition through to sale of the crop to a processor.

In addition to matters such as the foregoing, the cost, possible income, and profits in the industrial hemp agribusiness are concerns for all and should be researched by prudent growers. **

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* “Industrial hemp” is defined by this new Louisiana law as Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including its seeds, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis; and it is only thus defined industrial hemp that may be grown in Louisiana for fiber or seed.

** The LSU and Southern AgCenters have already initialed study of industrial hemp. The state of Pennsylvania currently offers these two sample budgets at its web site: https://extension.psu.edu/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/2839/

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Disclaimer: This blog does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.

Louisiana Industrial Hemp - Grower License