Cultivation licence

A cultivation licence is the permit a grower needs to legally plant and harvest hemp. Most jurisdictions that allow hemp require one, even where the crop itself is otherwise unrestricted.

Why it matters. The licensing regime decides who can farm hemp, what it costs, and how much oversight applies — often the real barrier to entry, more than legality itself.

How it varies. Under the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program (USDA final rule, 7 CFR Part 990), growers license through an approved state or tribal plan, or directly with USDA, with land registration, pre-harvest THC testing (samples within 30 days of harvest) and disposal rules for non-compliant crops. The EU instead conditions support on using certified seed of approved low-THC varieties from the Common Catalogue (Regulation (EU) 2021/2115); licensing detail is set nationally. Elsewhere, regimes run from simple registration to tightly capped, fee-heavy permits.

What the Atlas shows. The lens maps whether cultivation is licensed, and the issuing authority, country by country.

Common misconception. A licence to grow hemp rarely covers processing or extraction — those usually need separate authorisations.