“Even at 0.6%, Testaberg said, “THC amounts are negligible.”

And yet, a crop with forbidden levels of THC can be devastating for farmers, because it must be destroyed rather than sold.

These so-called “hot crops” are even more likely — Wisconsin farmers had an 8% failure rate last year — given that farmers are still learning how different varieties of hemp respond to local climates and soils.

“There are a lot of people out there experimenting, trying to find the perfect plant,” Kuhn said.

Getting a hemp operation off the ground is easier said than done.

There are legal hurdles — including submitting to a background check and providing the government the GPS locations of hemp fields — as well as financial ones.

Uncertainty around regulations and the crop itself have made it difficult for farmers to secure loans and get other assistance from banks.

“The biggest risk is the unknown,” said Scott Birrenkott, assistant director of legal for the Wisconsin Bankers Association. “Banks are required to do due diligence for every customer who comes to them, and they need to make sure that they’re not doing business with anyone engaged in illegal activity.