Governor Says Wyoming Working Hard To Get Hemp Program Started

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon said in a Tuesday news release that the state is "doing everything we can to launch the hemp industry."

The Wyoming Legislature earlier this year passed House Bill 171, authorizing the launching of a state hemp program.

The action followed the passage of the  2018 Farm Bill in Congress, which formally removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, essentially legalizing it as a crop in the United States.

According to the release:

The state is currently waiting for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue regulations and review Wyoming’s state plan, which was completed in April.

“Wyoming is doing everything we can to launch the hemp industry,” Governor Gordon said. “We have investigated every opportunity to move this industry forward in the state within our present statutory framework. Last week, during a horseback ride with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, I encouraged him to get agency rules in place as soon as possible, and that our farmers were depending on them.”

Wyoming Department of Agriculture Director Doug Miyamoto said the state is waiting for approval of its plan by the USDA to move ahead with the next phase of implementing a state hemp program.

Federal officials say the USDA will not approve state plans until it finishes finalizing its rules for the industry, which is expected to be sometime this fall. That means the earliest Wyoming farmers might be able to start legally growing hemp is the spring of 2020, if there are no other delays.