How To Hemp: The Legal Cultivation of Cannabis in Florida

Smoker's Lounge Security & Legal
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FORWARD: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

In Florida, the cultivation of Cannabis is governed by one of two state agencies under separate programs.

Current statutes require that all entities engaged in the lawful cultivation of Cannabis be licensed by the State, either through the Florida Department of Health (OMMU) or the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DPI).

For the purpose of this topic, I will be focusing on three hypothetical scenarios that may or may not allow for Floridians to leverage the State Hemp Program as either A) an individual; or B) commercial entity depending on their intent and eligibility.

  1. AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WANTS TO GROW FOR CBD
  2. AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WANTS TO GROW FOR R&D
  3. AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WANTS TO COLLECT & MOVE GERMPLASM

Noting that I am approaching this, not as a legal professional; but simply someone who is licensed to grow in the State of Florida.

Disclaimer / Notice: I advise any individuals who intend on leveraging the Hemp program to engage in the cultivation of Cannabis, for any reason, to first do their research and seek the appropriate legal counsel as well as consult with the department to ensure they are doing so in compliance with the applicable rules & regulations.

I will make myself available to address individual questions and concerns & will include as much reference material as I can to help with additional research; but will accept no liability for the misuse of this information.

Statutes & Amendments
FL Ā§ 581.217 (State Hemp Program)
FL Ā§ 381.986 (Medical Use of Marijuana)
Article X - SECTION 29 (Medical marijuana production, possession and use)

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SCENARIO: AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WANTS TO GROW FOR CBD

In this scenario, I will focus on the hypothetical possibility of an individual obtaining a license to cultivate and potentially harvest low-THC Cannabis at home.

Many of the same requirements; roadblocks; and associated costs will apply to any small/home-based operation under the program.

Irrespective of acreage; lack thereof; and/or the intended use of the end product, home growers who intend on harvesting from their plants will be treated the same as any other licensee who does so.

With this in mind, the associated costs do vary depending on several factors including the scale of the intended operation.

The actual license to cultivate Cannabis under the hemp program is issued at no cost by FDACS - Division of Plant Industry (DPI) once youā€™ve met the requirements and filed your application.

Home-growers are not allowed to process hemp for extract unless it is done through a licensed food-operation or lab (and cottage laws do not currently allow for hemp extracts).

Furthermore, there are additional licensing and storage requirements for processing & storing extracts which go beyond the purpose of this topic and on which I will not advise.

For these reasons, we will limit the scope of this scenario to the cultivation of Cannabis for the production and harvesting of low-THC flower for which the licensing requirements will depend more on the location where the cultivation will occur rather than anything else.

LOCATION: RESIDENTIAL OR AGRICULTURALLY & COMMERCIALLY ZONED PROPERTIES?

The only additional requirement growers need to meet is to register a Home-Use (Plant) Nursery prior to applying if they intend on growing at home; but the steps described below offer a general outline of what is needed to legally grow Cannabis plants in Florida.

Summary

Anyone who wishes to grow (low-THC) Cannabis will first need to:

  1. Obtain Permission from land/property-owner
  2. Pass a level 2 Background Check (No Drug Convictions within past 10 years)
  3. Put together a Containment & Disposal Plan
  4. Submit an application with Background Check; Land Coordinates & Acreage; Personal / Business Details to Department for Authorization to Cultivate Hemp
  5. Post the appropriate signage on the entrance and exit points of the location where the cultivation will occur.
  6. Obtain certified (AOSCA / Breeder) genetics*

CONSIDERATIONS: COMPLIACE & LIABILITY

Summary

By registering as a hemp producer in Florida, you authorize agents of the State (both department agents & law enforcement) to enter the premise for the purpose of inspection and auditing. It is recommended that you maintain your paperwork and signage current & up-to-date; and your operations simple, well documented, & clean.

If the material is to be harvested and processed (dried & packaged) for introduction into commerce in the state of Florida, you will need to notify the Department of your intent to do so no later than thirty days before the intended harvest date and coordinate it so that samples can be collected by the state for compliance testing to show that your material reflects one third (0.3%) or less ā€œtotal THCā€ [Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid + (0.87 x delta-9-tetrahyrocannabinol)] by dry weight (including leaves and stems) at the time of the Pre-Harvest testing for them to approve the lot for harvest and transport in accordance with the Florida Administrative Rules.

Growers can be prosecuted for cultivating materials that exceed, by as little as a single percentage point, the estimated total potential THC (a.k.a ā€œtotal THCā€ or the arbitrary calculation referenced above) established by the Department.

A minimal of one 5-8" snip/sample is collected by an agent of the department for each contingent acre of each lot/cultivar to be harvested.

Compliance testing can run upwards of $100 per sample tested; but you can choose from multiple third-party providers, and results are usually available within 3-5 days.

Despite allowing for some concentration of THC in the end-product, that amount is minimal and limits the cultivars that can be used in the production of flower by cultivators in Florida, further adding to the cost of production & compliance.

CONSIDERATIONS: RETURN ON INVESTMENTS
As of 08/23/2024 the production of hemp for biomass/CBD would still represent a less than attractive investment for most according to a study published through askIFAS (UF).

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Yes we can grow hemp in Florida. Just like many other states. Get a Hemp cultivation license and a Hemp manufacturing permit and youā€™re in business.

You can legally grow in your R&D area but the plants have to be destroyed according to DEA protocols immediately after harvest. The only legal way to keep the plants that you grow is to get a compliance test 30 days before harvest. That test costs around $400 every time you harvest something

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Thank you @ciganomarola I will put this in the OverGrow PODcast episode 024 with your interview.

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I appreciate you, OG! Please, do.

Thanks again for everything and count on me to pitch in where I can, always.

Indeed, Floridians are technically able to grow hemp; but as mentioned, there are a few steps and qualifications that need to be met for you to be authorized by the state to do so, especially if the goal is to make it a business endeavor.

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SCENARIO: AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WANTS TO GROW FOR R&D

As was suggested above by @Chara, several people, including myself, forgo the option to grow for biomass or flower with such materials destined for destruction or reintegration into the production system (if youā€™re about that soil-life).

Some may question the purpose of a license if not to harvest the flowers.

The simple answer is research and shit.

The license can, in effect, allow for those who wish to cultivate Cannabis in order to collect data through trial runs and lab testing; to develop or preserve genetics; or to keep a bonsai collection to photograph & showcase different expressions of the plant; and maybe even those who just want to grow and document the journey on Overgrow.com & other platforms.

In this scenario, the same requisites which someone who intends to harvest flowers from their plants is required to meet are observed by the Department for the issuance of a license. The application is also essentially the same with the small exception of the declared purpose (or type) of cultivation.

Partnering with a good laboratory is a good move for those engaged in serious R&D and have any entrepreneurial aspirations.

There are no established testing requirements for R&D; but it is still good practice to maintain all paperwork & documentation current and up-to-date, as well as a clean and a well organized operation considering that, if you are a licensee, you are still subject to inspections & audits.

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Yes you have right idea! There are tons of field trials and breeding that can be done under the hemp license in your R&D area. You give good advice about keeping records of everything and documenting your research. As long as you follow the rules exactly as theyā€™re written you wonā€™t have a problem. You have to educate yourself about the subject better than the ones regulating you. Iā€™ve been having interesting conversations about this topic myself with a few different people recently. Growing hemp can be just a hobby if you want. But it can also be a business opportunity if you want to grow a lot of plants. Thereā€™s opportunities to sell cuttings and small plants. If you get a few more permits you can process cannabis into anything you want. And have access to all the bulk oils from the hemp industry.

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Right on! Iā€™m glad you approve, @Chara. Thanks again for joining me on helping to shed some light into the topic for OGs.

OGTW w/ :sunny:

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SCENARIO: AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP WANTS TO COLLECT & MOVE GERMPLASM

In this scenario, I will explore the possibility entering market as a commercial nursery for the purpose of working with Cannabis under the Hemp Program in Florida.

Effectively, the same criteria previously described would be observed for the issuance of a license to cultivate (including maintaining an active nursery registration); but there are additional considerations to be had for those that wish to engage in the commercial distribution of plants within or outside the State of Florida.

Within the State of Florida, nurseries that distribute Hemp (aka Cannabis) Plants can only do so to other licensed growers in Florida; and in accordance to the receiving stateā€™s guidelines for the movement of plants out of state.

While this may potentially allow for the development of a business model focused on the collection & upkeep of plants for distribution, doing so sustainably & ethically at scale contemplates just as many (if not more) moving parts as any other horticultural operation in Florida today.

Subsequently, the same applies to seed production. A considerable amount goes into doing so sustainably and ethically at scale for producers.

In the end, the State Hemp Program in Florida was not created to allow for people to ā€œgrow their ownā€ per se; but to participate in helping to grow the local economy, and this should be taken into consideration when applying for & operating under a Hemp license in Florida no matter your goal.

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We can legally sell plants to anyone in the country who also has a hemp license. Itā€™s been that way for years but not many people are doing anything like that in FL. Except a few hemp seed companies offering starts occasionally. Capitalizing off the potential has been the issue for most. The market is unpredictable so thereā€™s lots of risk involved. We found it difficult to make a profit and had problems with timing. Everything has to be perfect and itā€™s not easy to make and ship live plants in bulk without issues

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How long have you been exploring the Hemp market in Florida @Chara?

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I got my hemp cultivation license in 2020.

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As someone who pulled my first license with the introduction of the program in Florida, I am elated to have someone with similar experience able to share so quickly on here.

I would love to hear more about your journey. Can you to speak as to how you came to decide that hemp was the move for you and why you chose Florida?

Personally, Florida is home and while I find myself dreaming about springtime in South America once in a while, I canā€™t see myself not coming back for too long.

Feel free to add whatever insight you feel is relevant and will help to contribute here; or pull me aside on the DM if you want, too.

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Local Florida guy. I watched my friends leave for the west coast growing experience in the 90ā€™s. Some made it big, most barely made a living and eventually got pushed out. Florida has a good hemp program for the most part and I definitely think more people should get involved. But itā€™s not for everyone. Youā€™re basically on your own with little to no help. My low THC hemp flowers donā€™t sell locally now that THCA flowers are available everywhere. But weā€™re not allowed to grow it. So the state has put me out of business for that product. All the hemp farmers I know are having to adjust or get out.

Iā€™m moving into low temp terpene extraction because itā€™s a better option for me right now. I have some very interesting hemp varieties. Iā€™ve been trying to lock down fruit flavors in CBD and CBG strains. Perfect for vapes and edibles. Also exploring the medicinal values of cannabis derived VOCs.

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I agree and would love to see everyone pull a license just to help Overgrow Florida; but I still find it much too restrictive with the arbitrary ā€œtotal THCā€ calculation employed in determining compliance & eligibility for harvest.

My opinion is the Program should be more accommodating to the small-batch farmer (and THCa production in general) by using solely the active delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol content to determine eligibility for harvest and circulation in the market as hemp in Florida.

I believe testing should be done by HPLC; or similarly reliable methods that allow for the quantification of the individual analytes for the samples tested from each batch/lot. I also feel that this information should be made readily available to the consumer for their reference; but I donā€™t feel it should be used in advertising products that donā€™t meet GMP standards.

When I buy flower, I want it to be like buying produce; but I do like to see the farm info & product name, batch id, harvest date and net weight on those, too.

I think a webaddress and qr code with a link to the COA is stellar and really do appreciate it when itā€™s included; but it doesnā€™t tell me what Iā€™m looking at when itā€™s in my hand.

For me, I am not just buying flower for the THC/CBD content, I am buying the whole package. I buy it for the whole experience; and how it smells & feels is more important to me.

Glad to know youā€™re staying busy and, while margins might be tight, it sounds like youā€™re doing alright, OG. Congratulations.

Iā€™m sorry if my stance offends your own in anyway and, please, donā€™t take it to heart if so; but I am of the opinion it isnā€™t the farmerā€™s place to play doctor or vice versa (unless duly qualified).

Not suggesting that anyone is or isnā€™t qualified to explore any topic of their interest; but more so on the note of promoting that others who are considering hemp to employ diligence in making the call as to what to explore.

As suggested earlier, I feel both flower and extracts should be advertised & sold as such and that ā€œraising awarenessā€ should go beyond product marketing; but also aim to truly empower consumers with knowledge.

Can you speak more to these? I would love to know more about what youā€™ve got growing on in terms of genetics and your environment.

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Thank you. :sunglasses:

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I knew that I could be obnoxious; but man :nauseated_face:ā€¦ sorry OG! Thanks again for putting up with my blabbering and, in case anyone does actually listen, let it be known that I heard it - so before yā€™all start riding me:

CORRECTION

  1. Freezing cannabinoids does not cause decarboxylation.
  2. THCa & CBDa synthase are enzymes* not hormones that drive the conversion of CBGa into THCa and CBDa.

NOTE: I owe a great amount of gratitude to @Heliosphear and @Calyxander for connecting and inviting me to discuss a little of my personal experience with hemp, and for reminding me to mention the work of Zachary Stansell and the people at the Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Geneva (NY) and USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NGPS) along with the Cornell Hemp Program

I also want to express my gratitude for all those who have contributed to the preservation, exploration, and expansion of the Cannabis genome and that extends to the gardeners; the rebels & pioneers; the generational (legacy) farmers throughout the U.S.A and abroad all throughout history; as well as the scientific community, the independent researchers, and you, my fellow OGs, who contribute to the ever-growing body of knowledge that helps us all to advance in our relationship with this plant.

Finally, I want to thank @LemonadeJoe and everyone who has dedicated their money and time to help rebuild Overgrow.com as such an awesome platform for the community.

USDA HEMP RESOURCES
Hemp Phenotyping and Descriptors Handbook (USDA ARS)
Hemp Collection (USDA ARS)

CORNELL HEMP
Cornell Hemp Virtual Tour
Cornell Hemp ā€“ School of Integrative Plant Science

University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
UF/IFAS Hemp Program
Ask IFAS: Florida Hemp Handbook

OGTW w/:heart:,
Cigano Marola
/siĖˆÉ”ɐĢƒ.nu maĖˆÉ¾É”.la/

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