America’s VIIHPC (Virgin Islands Industrial Hemp Committee) has granted the first commercial hemp cultivation and hemp seed distributor license under a measure passed in early 2020 by the country’s Agriculture Department.
Crucian Hemp Farms LLP, the licensee, disclosed that it would cultivate five hemp acres in its 125-acre farm during the first year before gradually upgrading fields.
The company’s Farms project fund manager, Jack Thomas, asserted that $4M from the $9M financing required for the task has already been acquired and the firm has purchased greenhouses and leased land for natural production.
USDA (U.S Department of Agriculture) passed the area’s formal hemp proposal in May 2019, providing production and research oversight to the region’s Agriculture Department, Virgin Lands University and the Hemp Committee.
Hemp Commission’s president and agriculture commissioner, Nelson T.A Positive, said the committee talked with Crucian officials last week and concluded that the organization has complied with USDA regulations.
Hemp Commission members who unanimously supported the license grant to Crucian Hemp farms include :
- David Hall (Trevor Velinor Police Commissioner)
- Nelson (United States Virgin Islands president)
- Richard Evangelista (Commissioner of the Virgin Islands Consumer Affairs and Licensing Department)
- Senator Allison DeGazon
- Senator Carol Jacobs
- Senator Lawrence Alfred.
The U.S Virgin Islands was the first American region to get USDA approval for production of hemp according to the interim final rule (IFR) during the 2018 Farm Reform. Previously, the territory didn’t produce hemp; however, the sale of CBD products was legal.
Through the 2018 Farm Bill promulgation, multiple law amendments were conducted to foster hemp industrialization across the states. The following are some of those changes:
- Authorizing hemp production as an agricultural product and using hemp to legally produce various types of products
- Scraping off hemp from the category of regulated substances
- Allowing hemp to get insurance cover and mandating the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation board to simplify the procedure for creating hemp policies.
