USDA protocol for hemp THC test sample collection is a “head-hunter” style, selecting not all parts representative of the plant but rather only the most dank, choicest buds. Colorado labored under the same rule since 2013.
But if USDA followed Congressional intent, it would use a more traditional sample collection protocol, not this head-hunter type. And if that were done, a currently-1% THC specimen might be closer to 0.2%.
One way some states might avoid the whole decarb issue, thus allowing the emergence of the high THCa “Hemp Weed” industry sector (hint: it’s really just high-THCa marijuana), is by using a performance-based protocol:
“USDA Performance-Based Sampling Protocols:
1. States and Tribes may develop performance-based sampling protocols.
2. Performance-based sampling protocols may consider seed certification processes, other process that identify varieties that have consistently resulted in compliant hemp plants, whether the producer is conducting research on hemp at an institution of higher learning or that is funded by a Federal, State, or Tribal government, whether a producer has consistently produced compliant hemp plants over an extended period of time, and other similar factors.
3. Performance-based sampling protocols may consider alternative requirements for operations that grow “immature” cannabis that does not reach the flowering stage. These facilities may grow seedlings, clones, microgreens, or other non-flowering cannabis, as determined by the State or Tribe.
4. A performance-based sampling protocol must have the potential to ensure, at a confidence level of 95 percent, that the cannabis plants will not test above the acceptable hemp THC level of 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.
5. Regardless of the specific performance-based sampling requirements developed under a State or Tribal plan, all samples must be collected from the flowering tops of the plant by cutting the top five to eight inches from the “main stem” (that includes the leaves and flowers), “terminal bud” (that occurs at the end of a stem), ”or “central cola” (cut stem that could develop into a bud) of the flowering top of the plant.
6. States and Tribes are required to include performance-based sampling protocols in the plan submitted to USDA for approval if they decide to use this methodology.
Standard Sampling Protocols:
1. The standard sampling method must be used by all producers, except for producers operating under a State or Tribal plan that includes a performance-based sampling requirement.
2. The standard sampling protocol ensures, at a confidence level of 95 percent, that no more than one percent of the plants in each lot would exceed the acceptable hemp THC level and ensures that a collected sample represents a homogeneous composition of the lot.
3. Every lot and every producer must be sampled and tested.
4. All samples must be collected from the flowering tops of the plant by cutting the top five to eight inches from the “main stem” (that includes the leaves and flowers), “terminal bud” (that occurs at the end of a stem), or “central cola” (cut stem that could develop into a bud) of the flowering top of the plant.
5. All producers licensed directly by USDA are subject to these requirements.”
Read the PDF here: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/SamplingGuidelinesforHemp.pdf