USDA Opens Public Comment On Hemp Producer Survey

The USDA is considering whether to open a producer survey in order to gather information and data on hemp production, and is seeking public comment about this undertaking. The USDA published notice of the open public comment period in the Federal Register, in which the agency stated that the “survey is necessary to identify data in the emerging hemp industry and for administering the domestic hemp program.” Federal Register

The agency is soliciting public comment on a number of topics, including whether it is necessary to conduct this survey, the methodology proposed to collect information through the survey, ways to improve the collection of information through the survey, and how to reduce the burden of collecting information from respondents.

The goal of the survey is to collect information on production and marketing information for hemp. Specifically, the survey will seek to collect information in the following areas: production practices and licensed, planted and harvested acreage; costs associated with hemp production; contracting and marketing; and demographic information about growers.

The deadline to submit comments is Dec. 15, 2020. Comments can be submitted online at www.regulations.gov. They can also be submitted via mail to Marketing Order and Agreement Division, Specialty Crops Program, AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, STOP 0237, Washington DC 20250-0237.

The full notice can be found in the Federal Register.