Cultivation
General Information
“Cultivate” or “cultivating” means to plant, water, grown, fertilize, till, or harvest a plant or crop. “Cultivating” includes possessing or storing a plant or crop on a premise where the plant or crop was cultivated until transported to the first point of sale. Hemp can be cultivated through clones or seeds. Clones can be obtained from a licensed greenhouse or processor. Seeds can be purchased from agricultural businesses. You can view a list of registered seed labelers in Ohio here.
Please click here if you would like to place a public requests request.
Application Process
In order to apply for a hemp cultivator license, you must first create an OH|ID account. This account must be in the name, email, and phone number of the: individual applicant and/or the individual who is authorized to sign on behalf of the business. If you need assistance, a link to detailed instructions for creating a new OH|ID can be found on the OH|ID log-in page.
After you have signed into your OH|ID account, please visit hemp.ohio.gov to begin your application. On this page you will find all the information needed in order to apply for a hemp cultivator license.
License Fees:
Cultivators must pay an application fee of $100.
Growing Location: $500 (annual fee per location)
Site Modification Fee: $250 for each GPS coordinate location change for each growing location.
While not a licensing fee, all additional samples taken due to the licensed cultivator having multiple fields, greenhouses, buildings, sites, or additional varieties grown on the growing location shall be subject to an additional $150 pre-harvest sample fee per sample taken.
Background Check
All applicants and key participants must undergo a background check prior to applying with ODA. "Key Participant" means a sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, or a person with executive managerial control. A person with executive managerial control includes persons such as a chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. This definition does not include non-executive managers such as farm, field, or shift managers.
In order to obtain a background check, please visit one of Ohio's WebCheck locations listed here. When visiting please select “Licensing for hemp cultivation and processing” from the drop-down menu. Please note that all applicants and key participants must obtain both a BCI and an FBI background check.
Please contact the Hemp Program at hemp@agri.ohio.gov or 614.728.2101 if you have questions or concerns regarding our background check requirements.
Mapping Info & Video
In order to identify your growing locations, you will be asked to map your growing locations by outlining the boundaries of your proposed growing location. Hemp may only be planted within the boundaries identified on your application. Any changes to these boundaries after licensure will be subject to a site modification. To better assist you in mapping your growing locations please see this step-by-step video.
Please note that pursuant to Ohio Administrative Code 901:14-1-06, no person shall plant, grow, or store hemp in or within:
- 100 feet of any structure that is used for residential purposes.
- Any structure that is used for residential purposes.
- An outdoor growing location of less than one-quarter acre.
- An indoor growing location of less than one thousand square feet.
- In a quantity of less than one thousand plants.
- Five hundred feet from a school or public park. (Measured from the plants to the closest point of the property lines having situated on it a school or public park.)
- A half mile from a licensed medical marijuana cultivator. (Measured from the boundaries of a parcel of real estate, measured from the closest point of the property lines, having situated on it a licensed medical marijuana cultivator.)
Reports
Outdoor Planting Report
The report is required for every licensed outdoor growing location. A planting report must be submitted to ODA to indicate when planting occurred in your outdoor growing location. The following information is necessary in order to complete your report:
- Location ID
- Planting Location ID
- Date Planted
- Variety Name
- Type of Hemp: Fiber, Flower, or Grain
- Number of Plants
- Source Name and
- Source Address.
You may be required to map the specific area in which you plant hemp within your growing location. Some of the reasons that would require you to map the specific planting location are:
- Plant less than the entire growing location.
- Plant multiple varieties within one growing location.
WHEN
A planting report for each growing location shall be submitted to ODA within fifteen (15) days of planting, including replanting. If no planting has occurred in your outdoor location, you must complete this report by selecting “No Plant” on the form below by July 31st.
HOW
Please click here for step-by-step instructions with pictures.
You will receive an email confirmation from ODA following the submission of a completed report. As always, if you have any questions regarding the planting report –or –the program itself please contact the Hemp Program at hemp@agri.ohio.gov or by calling 614.728.2101.
Indoor Planting Report
This report is required for every licensed indoor growing location. A planting report must be submitted to ODA to indicate when planting occurred in your indoor growing location. For the purposes of greenhouse/indoor production, “planting” includes the introduction of mother plants, seedlings, or clones into your facility or directly planting seeds or cuttings into a growing medium. The following information is necessary in order to complete your report:
- Variety Name;
- Date Received/Planted
- Type of Hemp:
- Clones/Cutting Production: If you have taken cuttings from mother plants and put them in soil or other growing media.
- Direct Seed: When seeds have been planted in your indoor location.
- Incoming Plants: When live plants have been brought into your growing location.
- Number of Plants
- Source Name and
- Source Address
WHEN
A planting report for each growing location shall be submitted to ODA within fifteen (15) days of planting, including replanting. If no planting has occurred in your indoor location, you must complete this report by selecting “No Plant” on the form below by July 31st.
HOW
Please follow the instructions below in order to complete your Greenhouse/Indoor Planting Report:
- This report is required for every licensed indoor growing location.
- Listed below are the planting addresses submitted with your application. Please locate the planting address associated with the indoor growing location you wish to complete the report for.
- Once located select the “Add Plant Location” button to generate the required reporting fields.
- The report will expand to display the required reporting fields.
- Select the correct Location ID, by using the dropdown box next to “Greenhouse/Indoor Location ID.”
- Complete all necessary fields with the appropriate information.
- Once completed press the green “Save” button.
You can find step-by-step instructions with pictures here.
Multiple Varieties:
If you have planted multiple varieties in your location, you must provide this information to ODA in the form of a report. You can consolidate multiple varieties into one report by selecting the “Add Plant Location” button after completing the first variety. Please repeat steps 3-7 above to add multiple varieties to your report, then proceed to step 8 to complete your report.
- Enter your name into the Acknowledgments section.
- Press the green “Submit Report” button to complete the report.
You will receive an email confirmation from ODA following the submission of a completed report.
As always, if you have any questions regarding the planting report –or –the program itself please contact the Hemp program at hemp@agri.ohio.gov or by calling 614.728.2101.
Harvest Report
In order to harvest planted material, licensees must submit a Harvest Report to ODA. The Harvest Report indicates what area(s) of the licensed growing location will be harvested and when. Once received, a Department Inspector will visit each growing location to collect a sample(s) prior to harvest. ODA will take a representative sample from each variety that you have requested in your harvest report.
Please note: No planted material may be harvested until a Department Inspector takes a sample from the requested lot.
WHEN
A harvest report shall be submitted to ODA at least fifteen (15) days of prior to the anticipated harvest. Requests for sampling within this window will not be honored.
Once the sample is collected, licensees must harvest their plant material within 15 days of the date the sample was taken. Failure to harvest within the 15-day window could result in ODA requiring a second test of the growing location at the cost of $300 per sample.
During this window, ODA’s labs will be running their analysis.
Please note: No harvested material may leave either the growing location or storage location listed on their license until it has been released by ODA.
FEES & PAYMENT
Pursuant to OAC 901:14-1-09, licensees are be afforded one testing sample per growing location. All additional samples taken due to the licensed cultivator having multiple fields, greenhouses, buildings, sites, or additional varieties grown on the growing location shall be subject to an additional $150 pre-harvest sample fee per sample taken.
Fees may be paid by visiting ODA’s payment portal. Fees must be paid prior to ODA releasing the results of your testing.
HOW
Please click here for step-by-step instructions with pictures.
You will receive an email confirmation from ODA following the submission of a completed report. As always, if you have any questions regarding the harvest report –or –the program itself please contact the Hemp Program at hemp@agri.ohio.gov or by calling 614.728.2101.
License Information
The grower must provide ODA with the address, map and GPS coordinates for each field, greenhouse, building or storage facility. Additionally, the grower must provide the number of outdoor acres, indoor square footage and number of plants to be planted.
If growing hemp indoors, an indoor planting report must be submitted to ODA.