Hemp Licensing

Of import Program Announcment

February 28, 2022 - Maine is not accepting hemp license applications for the 2022 season at this time. An announcement will be made when this twelvemonth'south hemp licensing procedure is finalized. Yous can sign up for the hemp bulletin or email mary.yurlina@maine.gov for a heads up. Thank you for your patience.

About DACF's Hemp Program

  • DACF is the licensing authority for growing hemp in Maine. Hemp is depression-THC Cannabis sativa that is grown for CBD, fiber, nutrient, and more. It is legal to grow in the US, but information technology is regulated, and y'all need a license to abound it.
  • In Maine, an adult can accept upwardly to 3 hemp plants for personal (non-commercial) employ without a license.
  • DACF's Hemp Program does not license or regulate high-THC Cannabis sativa, which is better known as marijuana. All inquiries near marijuana laws and licensing must be directed to Maine's Office of Marijuana Policy.
  • DACF does not regulate the processing of hemp. Because we do not license processors, we do not keep a list of processors or markets for hemp.

Hemp News and Events

  • Hemp Manufacture Pivots Toward Grain and Fiber (SuccessfulFarming)
  • New Industrial Hemp (fiber processor) Plans Expansion in Vermont
  • Outdoor Hemp Cultivation (YouTube) (emphasis on grain crops) – New webinar from Cornell School of Integrative Found Science;
  • Overview of Hemp Processing Systems (YouTube) (fiber, grain, oil, CBD) – New webinar from Cornell School of Integrative Plant Scientific discipline
  • 2022 Industrial Hemp Conference Registration - University of Vermont Extension (Register past March 11).

Hemp Newsletters

  • 2/nine/2022 - Legislative Update Regarding Hemp Licensing
  • 8/2/2021 - Exploring Hemp Products & The Regulations That Employ To Them
  • 6/22/2021 - What is the future of hemp in Maine?
  • 4/12/2021 - Hemp Education, Marketing and Licensing News
  • iii/29/2021 - Licensing Reminder, New Handbook Bachelor, and More
  • iii/8/2021 - Maine Legislative Update - LD 33
  • two/4/2021 - Hemp Regulatory News
  • 12/xi/2020 - Metals in Hemp-Avoiding Contagion

Sign-up for Hemp Newsletters!

Hemp Resources

Please Note: March 2, 2022 - This information reflects our plan through 2021 and may no longer apply in 2022. Please stay tuned for updated information about hemp licensing in Maine. We are non accepting applications at this time.

What is the process for becoming licensed to grow hemp in Maine?

  1. Apply for a license at least 30 days earlier you found hemp.
  2. Hemp program reviews and approves application.
  3. Sign license agreement and pay license fees.
  4. Inside fourteen days subsequently planting hemp, submit a planting report.  This report confirms exactly where you planted within the area(s) licensed and documents that the hemp varieties planted came from stock that contained no more than than 0.3% delta-9-THC by dry out weight.
  5. Hemp program inspects grow sites.
  6. Keep hemp program informed nearly your hemp functioning, including contact information changes, crop failures, and predictable harvest dates.
  7. Notify the hemp program at 25 days earlier harvest if your ingather has non been sampled yet.
  8. An inspector samples your crop and a Certificate of Analysis for THC content is generated by the lab.
  9. Complete a post-harvest report.

How to apply for a license?

In that location is no longer an application borderline. Nosotros ask that y'all apply 30 days earlier you intend to establish your crop then that you take a signed license agreement in hand before you plant.

  • Those wishing to sell hemp seedlings/clones (plants under 12 inches tall and not flowering) need to use for a License to Sell Nursery Stock.

Fees

Maine police requires that the Department embrace the costs of operating the hemp program past charging an awarding fee, license fee and a per acre fee. These fees are as follows:

  • $100 application fee – this fee must be submitted with the application.
  • $500 license fee – this fee is due afterward approval of the application and must be submitted with the signed licensing agreement.(A separate $500.00 fee is due for both indoor and outdoor licensing agreements)
  • Outdoor growing license
    • $fifty/acre fee – this fee is due after approving of the awarding and must exist submitted with the signed licensing understanding.
  • Indoor growing license
    • $0.25/square pes - this fee is due later on blessing of the application and must exist submitted with the signed licensing agreement. (multiple growing tiers are condiment)

Fees collected volition cover Departmental costs including, but non limited to:

  • Inspector travel costs including time to and from the growing area to take ingather samples for THC content analysis;
  • Costs of transporting crop samples to a lab for THC content analysis;
  • Laboratory fees for testing crop samples;
  • Costs of equipment and supplies used in sampling;
  • Departmental time reviewing applications, preparing licensing agreements and issuing licenses;
  • Other authoritative costs.

Please note that the fees charged will now cover THC testing for each dissever diverseness at a grow site.

Choosing hemp varieties, buying seeds, seedlings, clones

Maine does non certify hemp seed nor does Maine publish a listing of canonical or prohibited hemp strains/varieties/cultivars. Maine does license institute nurseries and some are licensed hemp growers who have seedlings and clones for auction to the public. Maine police force permits an individual to grow up to three hemp plants for personal (not-commercial) use.

For hemp to be hemp, its delta-ix-THC concentration must not exceed 0.three% on a dry weight basis. While genetics have a role in determining THC expression, many ecology factors can influence it, including plant maturity, temperature, h2o, soil fertility, and any number of stressors.

Despite hemp'south artifact as a cultivated plant, hemp as a modern crop has some communicable upwardly to do. In that location are many types of hemp advertised as varieties, cultivars, strains and crosses. They may not accept been bred and stabilized as other ingather plants have been. They may exhibit unstable traits. Few have been certified by AOSCA and those that accept are typically varieties grown for fiber and grain, not CBD. To grow a more uniform and predictable ingather, some growers plant clones. Whatever yous decide to use, choose your hemp seed or clones carefully, and make sure you get third-party laboratory documentation about the THC concentration of the parent plants (see below). As you subcontract, accept notes well-nigh crop performance, monitor your crop's THC content while buds class, and test for other cannabinoids if you lot are growing for a CBD market.

Although some out-of-state sellers are still requiring that growers exist licensed in order to receive shipment, this brake should non utilise. Legal hemp and hemp products can movement across state and tribal borders and tin be shipped through USPS. Some states may crave phytosanitary certificates for state-to-state movement of hemp seed and live plants; Maine currently does not.

Maine police requires that hemp exist planted using a certified seed source which is defined as a source of hemp seeds that are certified by a third party as producing hemp having a delta-nine-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of non more than 0.3% on a dry weight ground. Certification may include a document of analysis from a third-party ISO 17025 accredited laboratory that indicates the parent plant seed source tested at or below 0.3% delta-9-tetrahdrocannabinol on a dry weight footing. To comply with the certified seed source requirement when you buy seed, seedlings or clones, you must retain documentation that could include a letter, form, or other written verification or combination of documents that at a minimum includes:

  • Third party (someone other than the applicant and the grower of the seed) THC content testing results for the hemp. The 3rd party should be identified on the testing results;
  • THC content test results must exist for the diverseness or varieties included on the application and preferably for the specific lot of seed to exist planted;
  • Results of THC content testing and the engagement tests were conducted;
  • The proper name of the seed supplier and origin of the seed.

You must submit this documentation with your planting written report, which is due within 14 days after planting.

Maine Sources for Hemp Seedlings or Clones

  • Licensed Constitute Nurseries with Hemp Seedlings or Clones (PDF) - Updated May 26, 2021
  • Hemp Seedling/Clones Sales Survey - The Horticulture Programme has had several inquiries about businesses selling hemp seedlings/clones. Please fill out this brusk survey to assist fill in our data gaps.

Sampling and Testing

The licensee will let the inspection and sampling of the hemp crop at any and all times that the Department deems necessary. The licensee will exist notified prior to inspection and sampling. During the inspection and sampling the licensee or authorized representative will allow complete and unrestricted access to all hemp plants within the licensed growing surface area(s).

If the hemp crop has not been inspected and sampled 25 days prior to the predictable harvest appointment, the licensee volition notify the Department of intent to harvest.

Plants will be randomly sampled in each hemp lot and tested for THC content.

Crops testing above the allowable THC limit (0.iii% THC on a dry weight basis) will exist destroyed in a manner canonical past the Department. The licensee is responsible for paying all costs associated with ingather devastation.

Pest Direction Resources for Hemp Crops

  • Maine Registered Pesticide Products Labeled for Use on Hemp (XLSX)
  • Hemp Insect Factsheets, Colorado Land University
  • Hemp Integrated Pest Management Updates (PDF), Hillary Peterson, Entomologist
  • The Neapolitan (Hemp Infused) Pest Control Treat—A layer of IPM sandwiched betwixt Maine field research findings and pesticide considerations. Zoom recording of presentations by Hillary Peterman, John Jemison, Mary Tomlinson and Mary Yurlina equally part of Lath of Pesticides Control's offerings for pesticide recertification credits at the Ag Trades Testify.
Updated: March ii, 2022