West Virginia’s hemp industry bogged down by regulations, farmers say

ALBRIGHT, W.Va. (WBOY) — Hemp is one of the most valuable crops in agriculture, as it can be used for many purposes, but what farmers say is slowing down the boom of the plant here in West Virginia are the industry’s regulations.

Jeff Reckart, owner of Touch of Green Farms in Preston County, produces CBD products like oils, topicals and flower at his farm. On Tuesday, hundreds of dollars’ worth of his hemp plants were burned because they tested 13.3% higher than the legal limit of THC.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) follows USDA regulations that THC in hemp plants must be below .3%. With Reckart’s hemp testing at .34%, he said that the limit has caused hemp farmers around the country to lose their crops and the dollars they invested in them.

Reckart spoke with 12 News about his frustration with the regulations.

“Whenever I’m manufacturing oil, I can take all the THC out of this oil, you know what I mean. So, it’s senseless to have to burn all of this plant because when we run it through the processing procedure, we fractionate off the THC,” Reckart said.

Even after his product is manufactured, it then has to go through another round of testing to ensure there is no THC in the product.

The process to obtain a hemp license in West Virginia requires application fees, registration fees and testing fees. A $200 registration fee is also required for each product, and the WVDA caps the fee at $2,000 a year.

To make up for the amount of fees, Reckart has to increase his product prices, saying he can make one 1,000 milligram bottle of CBD oil for $1.50.

But what can cause a hemp plant to produce more or less THC? WVDA Plant Regulatory Program Coordinator Michael Arnold told 12 News what factors affect the growth.

“Even if you have a plant that passed at this exact day last year, if it’s going through certain stress things like drought, too much water, started too late, planted a little earlier, there’s all kinds of things that can affect the THC,” Arnold said.

Reckart told 12 News that he should have harvested his crop a week earlier to meet compliance, but lost track of time due to a death in his family.

Arnold also explained to 12 News the regulations of when crops must be checked by the Department of Agriculture.

“All growers are obligated by state code to notify the Department of Agriculture within 30 days of harvest. So, if they intend on harvesting Oct. 1, they need to notify me no later than Sept. 1. That allows me time to get there because you can imagine all of the growers are producing and coming to the same point at the same time,” Arnold said.

Random samples of the soon-to-be-harvested crop are collected by the WVDA, which are then tested twice before the final result of THC is revealed.

Arnold also said that those who test the hemp within WVDA follow a national threshold when it comes to the average percentage of THC found in the plant, as long as it doesn’t increase from the .03%.

Though sometimes it may just be a fraction of a percent that loses the batch, the end result is still a loss of money. Like many hemp farmers across the country, Jeff is hoping for a change in regulation.

“We’ve had a farm bill right now in our Congress that hasn’t been passed. They have wording in that farm bill to raise the threshold to 1%, which would alleviate all these field burns across the country. I mean, very few of these go over 1%,” Reckart said.

You can learn more about Touch of Green Farms here and the proposed Farm Bill here.