Montana is pondering over a new provision that requires cannabis farmers to confine their operations to indoor settings and hemp producers to outdoor environments.
According to a report from Independent Record released late last week, a federal Senate Commission heard from marijuana and hemp farmers about the reform that focuses on preventing cross-pollination between cannabis and hemp crops.
The legislation would allow marijuana to be cultivated indoors in hoop houses and greenhouses.
Senator Jacobson Tom, the bill’s sponsor, asserted that a glut of cannabis farmers already nurture plants indoors to optimize yearly production and outdoor state farmers can use hemp in diversifying their activities.
The state’s agriculture agency is also seconding the policy change.
However medical cannabis farmers opposed, citing that the reform would affect investments that they’ve made already in outdoor marijuana facilities. They argued that the marijuana sector offers more fortune and has been operating longer than Montana’s hemp measure: thus, it shouldn’t move in a direction that favors hemp.
The policy change won’t bypass cannabis growers already licensed to cultivate outdoors.
The state’s voters decriminalized recreational marijuana during 2020, which would make the sector more sturdy economically than hemp. Regulations on recreational cannabis production are still underway.
Montana’s debate arrives as outdoor hemp and cannabis cultivators are increasingly at loggerheads about pollen drift. This sets the platform for surging disputes in regions with prosperous outdoor cannabis production.
Marijuana farmers asserted that cross-pollination between marijuana and hemp crops cost them several thousands of dollars since it made their flower commodities unmarketable.
Based on research findings from the Michigan State University, one marijuana flower can exude 350000 pollen grains that can travel great distances.
Issues regarding whether or not hemp crops minimize THC content in nearby cannabis plants have culminated in a sharp debate on whether outdoor marijuana and hemp can co-exist.
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