U.S. hemp sales could increase as much as $25 million in 2020 and by more than $100 million by 2022, according to new estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
These estimates are some of the figures outlined in Hemp Industry Daily’s new special report, “USDA Hemp Rules: A Handbook for Hemp & CBD Businesses.”
A new law signed by Gov. Cuomo on Monday lays the groundwork for the manufacture and sale of home-grown hemp products — including popular CBD oil — across the state.
The regulations require growers, processers and sellers to obtain state permits and hire independent labs to test their merchandise.
The law also sets labeling standards and mandates that New York-based hemp companies use only crops grown in New York.
Cannabis producers need not fret about hemp-based cannabidiol (CBD) products overshadowing demand for THC-oriented products, according to a leading cannabis industry think tank.
Despite the recent surge of CBD oil sales since hemp's legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill, its growth is expected to be limited compared with CBD products containing at least a small amount of THC.
Congress opened the door in 2018 to what many in the agriculture sector hope will be a 21st-century money crop: hemp. But the budding industry must first escape the shadow of marijuana, hemp’s botanical cousin.
Take the hemp money and run. Expect litigation to rise as the 2019 hemp crop comes in during the first harvest since legal hurdles were lowered in the 2018 farm bill. In many cases, as growers, seed dealers and processors point fingers or hurl accusations of fraud, failure, theft and breach of contract, one lesson is increasingly clear: Hemp is a crop unto itself and a solid contract is crucial from the get-go.
As disagreements related to CBD and seed spill into court rooms, the timing is in sync with hemp’s rollicking rise, says Jesse Mondry, attorney with Harris Bricken.
A potential obstacle blocking development of the industrial hemp industry was removed Tuesday when banking regulators confirmed the legitimate legal status of low-THC cannabis.
The move comes almost a year after Congress formally lifted stringent controls on the non-psychoactive variant of the hemp plant.
As Tennessee hemp farmers prepare for the 2020 planting season, they’ll have new federal regulations to comply with, including strict THC testing protocols some industry advocates have criticized as heavily influenced by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
As Alex White Plume gathered his children and grandchildren along the bank of Wounded Knee Creek to harvest hemp in September, he was one of just a handful of farmers in South Dakota with hopes of making money from the crop this year.
A top line finding, based on the data from the survey and on research of the overall market, once fully realized, the hemp industry is poised to become the fourth major crop and a foundation to agriculture in the United States.
"This, in itself, shows not only the value of the industry, but the significance of the legalization of hemp," Whitney said.
Since 1999, after intense lobbying from unions representing French farmers, the THC limit for European hemp has been capped at 0.2%. Yet two decades hence, that standard is being blamed for negatively impacting the viability of the European hemp industry.
