News

Wisconsin hemp licensing deadline moved to March 1st

A Wisconsin Ag Department official says they have extended the deadline for farmers to apply for 2019 industrial hemp licenses.  Donna Gilson says, “People were telling us that they weren’t able to get land and seed sources, etc. lined up by December 31st, and it was also somewhat of a work issue for our staff.  It comes at the same time that we’re doing nursery licenses, so there was a little bit of a crunch there, too.”

Gilson tells Brownfield the new deadline is March 1^st, but farmers that grew hemp this year will still have to file required reports by the end of the year.  “We will not issue their new registrations for 2019 until we have all of their reports for this year and until we have all of the fees that they owe us, which are essentially for testing.”

Other states including Minnesota, Indiana, and North Dakota have hemp pilot programs, with their own licensing guidelines and deadlines.  If language removing industrial hemp from the list of Schedule 1 narcotics becomes part of the new farm bill, it is likely to remove the need for state licensing.

Gilson says farmers applying for hemp licenses need to be sure the applications are complete.  “Last year, we had so many that came in that we needed to play a game of phone tag and email tag with them trying to get additional information.”  She says incomplete applications slows the process and makes it difficult for farmers to get licenses in time to order seed.

Wisconsin hemp growers can apply for licenses online or with a paper form.  Farmers will need the GPS coordinates and maps for all hemp fields, greenhouses, or other storage and processing sites. The acreage of fields and square footage of greenhouses must be reported on the application.

Donna Gilson from DATCP talks with Brownfield’s Larry Lee