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How to Sample Hemp Product

Learning how to sample in a way that captures an accurate representation of your entire commodity is vital. It helps ensure your product is legal and safe for human consumption. It also helps protect your crop from going to waste. 

 

Pulling samples throughout all stages of the hemp lifecycle, including growth, extraction, and final product, is crucial. In this post, we’ll cover what sampling is, why it’s essential, and how to sample: 

 

All the practices we’ll go over are similar to the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) sampling standards. Labs have used the FGIS handbook for decades with high accuracy. This should come easy to you if you’re familiar with those processes! 


What is Hemp Sampling and Why Does it Matter? 

In this context, sampling is the act of selecting random pieces of hemp material from a field, plant, or container to analyze. Sounds simple, right? Not necessarily. There’s a lot of thought, planning, and strategy that goes into it. 

For starters, it’s important to ensure samples are representative of the entire product. Typically, the best way to do this is by conducting unbiased random sampling. In other words, all hemp material in the relevant field, container, or plant is equally subject to selection. 

Samplers should pull content at random from the entire product. Cherry-picking the best-looking stems and leaves from the first row of a field will not accurately represent the condition of the whole field’s biomass. Instead, it’s better to randomly select material from multiple plants and rows across the growing area. 

Analyzing hemp is vital to ensure that it’s legal and safe for consumption. Not to mention, it’s hard to buy or sell without performing testing. Currently, THC is the only Federally-mandated hemp compound; however, analyzing the product to ensure it’s free from high levels of dangerous pesticides and bacteria (e.g., salmonella, E. coli) is not only of equal importance—it’s expected. 

The hemp industry is still in the early stages of standardization regarding sampling procedures. At AIT, we follow the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sampling recommendations; however, standards may vary state by state. It’s always important to verify the requirements for your region and keep in mind that they may change as the industry becomes more regulated. Additionally, strategies differ based on when the material gets tested, the type of material tested, where it gets pulled from, and the compounds tested. We’ll expand more on this in the sections that follow. 


How to Sample a Hemp Field for Compliance Testing 

Whenever you decide to pretest a field for state compliance, it’s a good idea to pull samples the same way the state does for each strain. Different strains can contain different cannabinoids and values. It’s important to verify your state’s procedure to determine if they’re abiding by USDA standards or if they’ve adopted their own. 

Below, we’ll walk through the USDA’s guidelines, including pointers to consider while pulling your samples: 

  1. Plan your route. Map out a sawtooth pattern across the field, beginning in the lower-left corner. This helps ensure a representative sample. 
  2. Determine the sample size needed. Plan to pull one sample per acre for up to 20 acres. Refer to the USDA’s suggestions. 
  3. Randomly select samples. Following the sawtooth pattern, randomly select plants from which to pull samples. 
    • If the plants have flowering tops, obtain samples from them.
    • Measure one-third of the way down the plant and locate a flowering bud to cut beneath. Ideally, each sample should be about eight inches in length. 
    • Only pull one sample per plant. 
    • Avoid sampling dead, diseased, or mechanically injured plants. 
  4. Separate leaves and flowers from the stems. While not required, it’s easier for the lab to handle. Labs don’t need large stems for testing. Flowers and leaves, however, are of equal importance. 
  5. Place the material in a bag. If all samples are from the same harvest lot, you can place them in the same container. 
  6. Weigh the material. Verify your lab’s sample size requirements to ensure your content weighs enough for testing. For example, AIT requires 30 grams of wet plant material to run a cannabinoid test and 80 grams for a full panel test. Any standard kitchen scale works for weighing. 
  7. Deliver the samples to a certified, third-party testing facility. Verify packaging, shipping, and handling requirements with your lab, first. 

How to Sample Hemp Plants for Biomass Percentage Testing 

Sampling for potential biomass percentage is similar in concept to field compliance testing. In this case, sample the field by mimicking your intended harvest method for each strain. Again, different strains can produce different cannabinoid results. 

  1. Plan your route. Map out a sawtooth pattern across the field, beginning in the lower-left corner. This helps ensure a representative sample. 
  2. Determine the sample size needed. Plan to pull one sample per acre for up to 20 acres. Refer to the USDA’s suggestions. 
  3. Randomly select samples. Following the sawtooth pattern, randomly select plants to sample from. 
  4. Take clippings from the top, middle, and bottom of the plants. It’s imperative to get an equal cross-section of the entire length of the plants for accuracy. 
  5. Mimic your harvesting method: 
    • Chopped: Stems, leaves, and buds all chopped up together 
      Note: Be sure to include fan leaves. 
    • Combined: Harvested with a combine. To replicate this, you may use the chopping method. 
    • Hand-trimmed: Buds and leaves, no stems 
    • Hand-trimmed bud: Buds only 
  6. Place the material in a bag. If samples are from the same harvest lot, you can place them in the same container. If you’re experimenting with different harvesting methods, put them in separate bags. 
  7. Weigh the material. Verify your lab’s sample size requirements and ensure your content weighs enough for testing. For example, AIT requires 30 grams of wet plant material to run a cannabinoid test and 80 grams for a full panel test. Any standard kitchen scale works for weighing. 
  8. Deliver the samples to a certified, third-party testing facility. Verify packaging, shipping, and handling requirements with your lab, first. 

How to Sample Biomass Super Sacks, Totes, and Containers 

The key to sampling from containers is to reach the material at the very bottom. You should never just scoop material from the top. The crop inside can migrate as the container moves, causing heavier components to transport to the bottom. Additionally, if you purchase or sell multiple sacks, it may be hard to tell if they’re all from the same producer, field, or variety. For this reason, capture material from the top and bottom of multiple sacks. 

  1. Pull material from the top, middle, and bottom of each container. You may need to use a tool to reach the bottom. At AIT, we use a sampling probe that captures a small amount of product throughout each depth. We highly recommend using a probe or similar device that can capture a representative sample throughout the entire expanse of the container. 
  2. Place the material in a bag. Put samples from each container in a separate bag. 
  3. Weigh the material. Verify your lab’s sample size requirements and ensure the content weighs enough for testing. For example, AIT requires 3 grams of dry plant material to run a cannabinoid test and 8 grams for a full panel test. Any standard kitchen scale works for weighing. 
  4. Deliver the samples to a certified, third-party testing facility. Verify packaging, shipping, and handling requirements with your lab, first. 

How to Sample Concentrates, Crude Oils, and Distillates 

The sampling method for concentrates, crude oils, and distillates is remarkably similar to the Biomass Super sack/Tote/Container process. However, one thing to consider is that full panels on crude oil and distillate are accepted more commonly than biomass tests due to low sampling variability (i.e., they’re very homogenous materials). 

  1. Pull from the entire container. Plunge an extraction tool to the bottom of the jar. Materials can settle, causing slightly skewed results if only taken from the top. 
  2. Place the material in a vial. Seal them properly to avoid spills. 
  3. Repeats steps 1 and 2 for each container. If purchasing or selling multiple containers, pull a sample from each. Place the samples from each one in separate vials. 
  4. Weigh the material. Verify your lab’s sample size requirements and ensure your content weighs enough for testing. 
  5. Deliver the samples to a certified, third-party testing facility. Verify packaging, shipping, and handling requirements with your lab, first. 

How to Sample Smokable Hemp 

Processors typically store cured, smokable hemp in barrels or plastic totes. Again, reaching material at the bottom for a truly representative sample is crucial. Keep in mind that these flowers/buds can contain higher THC levels than stems and leaves, which has led some states to move toward banning smokable hemp products. 

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the laws in any region you intend to sell your product. If your flowers test above 0.3% THC, you may submit a second sample to test in most cases. If the second test produces the same result, it’s considered hot, and you’ll likely need to destroy the material in that barrel. 

  1. Dry the flowers/buds to a useable level. If the material is not dry enough to use, it will produce different results. 
  2. Pull material from the top, middle, and bottom of each container. To capture a representative sample throughout the entire depth of the barrel, you may need to use a tool to reach the bottom. 
  3. Place the material in a bag. Put samples from each barrel or tote in a separate container. 
  4. Weigh the material. Verify your lab’s sample size requirements and ensure the content weighs enough for testing. For example, AIT requires 3 grams of dry plant material to run a cannabinoid test and 8 grams for a full panel test. Any standard kitchen scale works for weighing. 
  5. Deliver the samples to a certified, third-party testing facility. Verify packaging, shipping, and handling requirements with your lab, first. 

Sampling Reminders 

For routine sampling guidelines, check out the USDA’s website and Regulations.gov. Although not all states have adapted to these standards, methods are usually similar. Your state department should be able to tell you if they sample to USDA standards or not. 

Just as important as how to sample is when to sample. If you’ve been following our blog, you already know that we recommend (at a minimum) testing before selling. We've got you covered if you missed our three-part “When to Test Your Hemp” series! Check out the articles here: 

It’s also important to keep in mind that consistency is key. We suggest creating standard operating procedures, including buying and selling and strictly adhering to them for quality results. 

Finally, sampling ensures hemp products are safe and legal for human consumption. Currently, THC is the only hemp compound that is Federally mandated, but it’s hard to buy or sell without running additional tests

Let’s Connect! 

If you’re new to sampling, feel free to reach out to us with any questions you have, and we’ll try our best to answer them (or refer you to resources that can). Drop a comment below, email us, or call us at 888.897.4367.