ANN ARBOR = Dave Crabill from iHemp Michigan recaps on MITech TV to testify before the Michigan Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee in support of Senate Bill 608 and Senate Bill 609, legislation intended to update Michigan’s industrial hemp laws.
Crabill said he and a group of board members went to Lansing to support bills written by State Sen. Dan Lauwers – 25th District – to end Michigan’s hemp program and move it under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Agriculture. Sen. Lauwers spoke at iHemp’s first meeting in January 2019 at the University of Michigan Flint. He wrote the bills to create the program.
Why the move to close the hemp program? asked Crabill. It is unsustainable in the current environment. Even Molly Mott, Health Section Manager at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development supported the change, he said.
Under the current system, MDARD requires a $1,250 growers license as well as about $500 in compliance testing by the state. Under USDA hemp growers pay $100 for three years and hire the testing from a list of certified testers. As a result, the number of growers dropped from a high of nearly 700 in 2019 to about 25 in the state in 2026 as the financial risk to grow hemp without needed changes was simply too great. Crabill aid the change to USDA jurisdiction will reduce the financial risk.
So then farmers could test a quarter acre of grain or fiber to see how the crop performs. He said as we continue to learn about this amazing plant, we are faced with challenges outside of the complex biology. Those include a high level of state scrutiny on finance, insurance, transportation and marketing recreational cannabis.
Crabill said it is the hemp community’s hope for state and federal officials to set aside fiber and grain crops and scale the production to attract investment into processing. The bills to make these changes passed the Michigan Senate. Now iHemp remains optimistic that the bills will pass the House and get signed by Gov. Whitmer.
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