In the first year since hemp has been legal for commercial cultivation on the federal level, people across the United States are jumping at the opportunity to try their hand growing the legendary plant.<\/p>\n
According to new numbers<\/a> from the hemp advocacy group Vote Hemp<\/a>, this year, 16,877 farmers received a license from their state to grow hemp (defined as cannabis with less than 0.3% THC<\/a>) \u2014 for a total of over 500,000 acres of hemp licensed for cultivation in 2019. <\/p>\n Those are staggering numbers compared to 2018<\/a>, when states issued 3,546 licenses for people to grow hemp and U.S. farmers harvested 78,176 acres of hemp.<\/p>\n However, Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, noted that many of those farmers are first-time hemp cultivators or even first-time farmers, and that he doesn\u2019t expect all 511,442 acres of hemp to be cultivated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still a lot<\/em> of hemp, but a huge number of Because of the number of novice growers, a lack of easily available hemp genetics, late planting (either because of a long winter<\/a> or because of state licensing delays<\/a>) and other complicating factors, Steenstra thinks there will be a significant amount of crop failure and unharvested hemp.<\/p>\n \u201cThe good news is people are In a press release, Vote Hemp estimated that they believe 230,000 acres of hemp will actually be planted this year, and that only 115,00-138,000 acres of hemp will be harvested this fall.<\/p>\n Back in March, U.S. Secretary \u201cWhat is the market potential of industrial hemp? Farmers in the United States are so productive, they could crash this market before it gets off the ground,\u201d Perdue told online news agency Cheddar<\/a> on March 19.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that the USDA hasn\u2019t even released federal regulations for growing hemp yet. The agency has stated that they\u2019re hoping to have regulations released in the fall<\/a>, including regulations on things like pesticide use, licensing and hemp testing requirements. That means that all of the licenses farmers have received are under the 2014 Farm Bill, a law that set out a pathway for state pilot hemp programs. Today, 46 states have passed hemp legislation and 34 have active cultivation programs, according to Vote Hemp.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s definitely a However, Steenstra says that if \u201cIt takes a significant There\u2019s currently a gulf between the \u201chemp industry\u201d and the \u201ccannabis industry,\u201d and it\u2019s all thanks to the federal government\u2019s attitude towards one pesky, legendary cannabinoid: THC<\/a>. Because the federal government has defined hemp as the cannabis plant with less than 0.3% THC, cultivators growing cannabis plants that are chock full of every terpene and cannabinoid except THC can thrive in a hemp industry with less regulation and less taxes than the cannabis industry. <\/p>\n Throw in the fact that the hemp industry has the blessings of the federal government and that many consumers don\u2019t seem to care if their CBD comes from<\/a> hemp or cannabis, and you\u2019ve got the setting for some potential competition between hemp farmers and cannabis farmers. \u00a0<\/p>\n But, \u201cthat protectionist mindset isn\u2019t good for anyone,\u201d California, for example, legalized hemp for cultivation in 2019<\/a> and Steenstra says it immediately jumped to being one of the top 10 states by licensed hemp acreage. The state is the home to the country\u2019s legacy cannabis growing region, the Emerald Triangle, where many longtime cultivators have been struggling in the face of California\u2019s stringent cannabis regulations<\/a> and stiff competition<\/a> from venture-capital-funded corporations.<\/p>\n The state also technically only allows CBD products to be sold through licensed cannabis dispensaries<\/a> (which increases the burden for hemp-derived CBD products to make it level with cannabis-derived CBD products) \u2014 though this rule is rarely enforced. Steenstra said that California is a location where the conflict between the regulations around hemp and cannabis could come to a head, and provide a potential nationwide solution. <\/p>\n Oregon, however, adds another complication. There, cannabis cultivators are reporting that some reckless hemp farmers are using \u201copen pollination\u201d methods<\/a>, where they leave male plants outside near female plants. That pollen from the male plants can travel far, and ruin entire cannabis crops by forcing the flower-producing female plants to seed.<\/p>\n Currently, no state has regulations that make sure all of TELL US,<\/strong> do you think the CBD hype has gone too far?<\/p>\n The post Hemp Licenses Quadrupled from 2018 to 2019, So Will There Be a CBD Surplus?<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In the first year since hemp has been legal for commercial cultivation on the federal level, people across the United States are jumping at the opportunity to try their hand growing the legendary plant. According to new numbers from the hemp advocacy group Vote Hemp, this year, 16,877 farmers receivedContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3097,6726,148,50,5,4350,296,5014,185,420,2353],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38033,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38032\/revisions\/38033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\npeople licensed to grow this year had no experience and had never grown hemp
\nbefore,\u201d Steenstra told Cannabis Now. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of small family farms. They\u2019re
\ngrowing 1,000 plants, 500 plants. Lots of small producers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nstarting small and they\u2019re learning through the process and that\u2019s a good
\nthing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s clear that there\u2019s a lot of inexperienced people
\ngrowing this year and that\u2019s why we\u2019re expecting a smaller percentage of
\nlicensed acres to be harvested.\u201d <\/p>\nHas the Hemp Hype Gone Too Far? <\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nof Agriculture Sonny Perdue warned American hemp farmers that hemp might not be
\nthe miracle moneymaker they were hoping for. <\/p>\n
\nconcern about people growing too much hemp,\u201d Steenstra told Cannabis Now. \u201cWhether
\nor not we reach a saturation point this year, I\u2019m not sure. So far, demand is
\noutstripping supply. This could be the harvest where we finally have so much
\nhemp it could be a buyer\u2019s market, but I don\u2019t know for sure. We\u2019re definitely
\nheading in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nhemp farmers this year struggle to find a path to market for their hemp, the
\nUnited States might not see as many people apply for licenses next year. <\/p>\n
\ninvestment of time and money to grow hemp, and if [this year\u2019s farmers] don\u2019t
\nsee a return on investment, they won\u2019t be back next year,\u201d he said. \u201cMarket
\nforces might solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat Does Hemp
\nProduction Mean for Cannabis Farmers?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nsays Steenstra. \u201cWe want hemp and cannabis to coexist and we have to figure out
\nhow to make it work\u2026. A combination of too many regulations and too many taxes
\nin the cannabis industry doesn\u2019t benefit anyone, and hemp is a tempting
\ndirection for cannabis regulations to head in.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n2019\u2019s new hemp farmers know what they\u2019re doing with their male plants. <\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Hemp Licenses Quadrupled from 2018 to 2019, So Will There Be a CBD Surplus?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"