As industrial hemp programs continue to develop, disparities between acres licensed and acres grown vary, depending mainly on licensing fee structures. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/hemp-growers-farmed-fewer-acres-than-licensed-in-2020/
For many farmers, the 2020 hemp season added heartache to an already grim pandemic year. Excess biomass from 2019 left deteriorating in storage drove wholesale prices to new lows. But the year’s end yielded a bright spot in one market segment: smokable hemp flower. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/smokable-hemp-market-potential-flower/
While smokable hemp presents an opportunity for growers, its varying legal status across states makes the market’s long-term viability uncertain. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/smokable-hemp-market-sustainable-laws/
Industrial conglomerate 3M Co. thinks hemp can be part of the sustainability “megatrend” and is looking at hemp components to do everything from strengthening packaging tape to helping grow human tissue and organs.
As the DEA battles the hemp industry over its latest proposed rule, processors discuss how extraction works and how the rule could impact their operations. https://www.hempgrower.com/article/hemp-extraction-explained-intermediary-waste-dea-hia/
In the two years since hemp became a legal commercial crop in the United States, producers’ challenges in sourcing a consistent supply of predictable, reliable genetics haven’t subsided, as the industry establishes itself and plant-breeding efforts continue.
The hemp industry has high hopes for thriving under President Joe Biden, with operators seeing opportunities in the president’s climate plan and feeling optimistic that congressional action on high-THC cannabis will open more opportunities for hemp entrepreneurs.
Want to know the best time to plant hemp in the Midwest? Or what cultivar consistently produces a crop below 0.3% THC? Researchers in the Midwest have successfully pooled that information despite the pandemic, creating a database designed to give farmers an idea of what to expect from their hemp cultivars in 2021 and beyond.
Hemp advocates say the plant’s carbon-gobbling properties position the crop to play an important role in plans outlined by President Joe Biden to tackle the climate crisis.
Hemp businesses walk a fine line when describing the health benefits of their products: Make a claim without evidence or wording that misleads consumers, and soon the legal fees will pile up.
