If any of you have rented farmland for hemp production this has probably been brought up. When if ever is the landowner liable for bad seeds that gose over 0.3%THC, how can you ensure legal immunity for the landowner in the event that your biomass got hot? Thanks
It’s not the land owner’s liability. As long as you are part of the farm program, most states just make you destroy it.
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are you saying that if the farm is not in the state’s registry it may pose risk for landowners?
Of course. How do they know you are doing hemp and not thc if you aren’t registered?
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of right, registry is proof, duhh… @Apothecary36 although I still don’t see how the landowner is at risk, I am looking around for court cases
It looks like the issue is having the documentation to prove that the land owner was not the cultivator. although there may be multiple ways to show that, ways I don’t know
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I would think a lease signed by the cultivar would suffice for protection of the land owner.
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right, and would that have to be notarized too? I suppose
There is an entire provision in the 2014 and 2018 rules regarding hemp that clearly outlines that unintentional (aka negligent) hemp that does not comply with the not more than 0.3% D9THC regulation, is a removal of the licensure from the state. Not an enforcement action and that the state would then need to request assistance for enforcement if they had reason to believe that it was intentional and not negligence.
@AgTonik is super right about being licensed through your state or tribal program (since the federal program doesn’t really exist yet…not really…) and that in most cases you are working directly with the state before harvest (and in some states throughout the growing season).
There’s also a provision in many states that holds landlords harmless, as long as, they did their due diligence to make sure that whoever was growing on their property was appropriately licensed for the work they were doing.
I think either would help someone feel better about things - but any person who feels wonky about this stuff should just get a state specific lawyer to talk these things through with.
Regardless - if someone is involved in some hot hemp (aka WEED) activities, even if they are registered, and there is a lease, and a contract, and things are notarized (which I highly doubt…but who knows) if the courts can show that they were complicit in these activities then they are liable and that means if the feds want them they can have them.
So - work with your local state, do everything in your power to do it correctly. Document all the things you are doing to do it correctly (like buying the right kind of seeds/clones, testing the crop throughout growth to make sure there’s not THC production, harvesting early if THC is getting too high, and making sure to use a lab that isn’t bogus or doing this work internally yourself using the international method from AOAC for Hemp to check and see. (There’s also a UN method for Hemp that many drug labs use, so you could use that one too…)
So really - its all about the states rules regarding hemp growth. Even at the federal level the rules for negligence and what not are varied and appear to only apply to the person with the license, not the person who’s land they are on. 
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Thanks for the info!
I doubt the feds/state care about seed crops getting hot, it’s not like anyone is getting high off of grain for the livestock. but better safe than sorry I guess. there are some Italian seed production strains that get hot, not sure if they are worth the risk, I bet it would fall under “negligence” catigory
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