The Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) has approved four new industrial hemp seed varieties, bringing the total number of approved industrial hemp seed varieties in Colorado to 17.

Following a year-long, statewide THC validation and observation trial period, the newly approved industrial hemp seeds are now eligible to be grown by members of the Colorado Seed Growers Association (CSGA) for production of CDA Approved Certified Seed.

CDA held field trials on the four varieties of hemp throughout 2019 across Colorado’s diverse growing conditions in the Northeast region, Arkansas Valley, Front Range, the San Luis Valley and on the Western Slope. The trials validated growth viability and whether plants test at or below 0.3 percent THC concentration on a dry weight basis.

To qualify as CDA Approved Certified Seed, hemp varieties must be produced and labeled by members of the CSGA according to the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies standards. The CDA Approved Certified Seed program requires all individual seed packages to be tagged with specific Certified seed tags available from the CSGA. Growers planting with CDA Approved Certified Seed are considered very low risk for testing purposes.

A complete list of CDA industrial seed varieties may be found here. For more information, please visit CDA’s industrial hemp website.