Industrial Hemp Program

2018 Farm Bill

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) was signed into law on December 20, 2018. The 2018 Farm Bill authorized state departments of agriculture to create commercial industrial hemp programs. States who wish to have primary regulatory authority over industrial hemp must submit a State Plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for approval. State Plans will include procedures and information regarding: land to be used for planting, testing, effective disposal of plants and products, compliance with law enforcement, annual inspections, submission of information to USDA, and other procedures and information.

The USDA is currently developing regulations which will govern State Plans and anticipates having regulations in effect by the fall of 2019 to accommodate the 2020 planting season. Following USDA’s development and release of regulations, the Missouri Department of Agriculture will submit a State Plan to USDA. Additional information can be found at https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/farmbill-hemp.

Missouri’s Industrial Hemp Law

Senate Bill 133 was signed into law on June 24, 2019. Senate Bill 133 moves industrial hemp to commercialization rather than the research pilot program which was created by House Bill 2034 in 2018. Existing rules created for the industrial hemp research pilot program must be revised to reflect changes made to the industrial hemp law in 2019. The proposed rules will be filed after Senate Bill 133 goes into effect on August 28, 2019. If you have questions about the State of Missouri’s rulemaking process for executive agencies, please visit the Secretary of State’s Administrative Rules webpage.

Industrial hemp may not be grown in Missouri and individuals may not possess seeds or propagules without an applicable Producer Registration and/or Agricultural Hemp Propagule and Seed Permit. The Department intends to make applications for Producer Registrations and Agricultural Hemp Propagule and Seed Permits available online in the fall of 2019 in anticipation of the 2020 growing season.

Proposed Industrial Hemp Timeline

Dates are subject to change