Dec. 20 marks two years since President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law, signaling the official nationwide legalization of industrial hemp. While the industry has made great strides since then, many state and federal agencies are still working out how hemp will be regulated, and many farmers are still grappling with how to approach hemp cultivation—or whether they should even enter the market.
Here, we take a look back at Hemp Grower’s most popular articles from the past year as we head into what’s sure to be another year of flux for this new industry.
10. Texas Will Begin Accepting Hemp Production License Applications This Month
The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a plan to regulate hemp in the Lone Star State at the beginning of the year, with cultivation applications launching in March. Demand was expected to be high this year, but on the other side of that interest was a general wariness from observing other hemp markets around the U.S., where oversupply led to a price crash and harvest-season stress in 2019. Read more
9. Florida Researchers Hope to Clean Up Polluted Waterways With Hemp
Earlier this year, two South Florida State College researchers were working to develop a method of hydroponically growing hemp that would not only provide a viable crop, but also clean up the state’s algae-filled waterways. Steve Edmonds, a political science professor at Valencia College, had the idea to clean up waterways using hemp since toxic green algae blooms severely invaded Lake Okeechobee in 2013, but now that hemp is federally legal to grow, he found a research partner to carry out an experiment that’s been years in the making. Read more
8. Hemp Farmers Begin to Develop Market Infrastructure for Fiber
Despite hemp fiber’s thousands of uses, its development in the U.S. industry faces a plethora of barriers—but a few industry pioneers are up to the challenge. In Hemp Grower’s July/August issue, we explored how, despite the numerous challenges involved with breaking into the industry, hemp fiber is beginning to gain traction in the U.S. Read more
7. 4 Challenges—and Opportunities—for the CBD Industry in 2020
In Hemp Grower’s May/June issue, Hemp Benchmarks’ Adam Koh offered a look at hemp-derived CBD price trends in 2019 and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for the market. Read more
6. Is Greenhouse Hemp Growing for You?
While many legacy growers have considered hemp an outdoor-only crop, greenhouse hemp production is gaining fans among those focused on propagation and production of premium hemp products that benefit from a controlled environment. In Hemp Grower’s March/April issue, we spoke to five greenhouse hemp growers to understand how and why they choose to grow hemp in greenhouses. Read more
5. What the DEA’s Interim Final Rule on Hemp Really Means for the Industry
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposed its interim final rule in August. The agency said the regulations were meant to “merely conform” with the 2018 Farm Bill, but they could have serious implications for hemp processors—and may also contain a silver lining for THC testing. Read more
4. Tennessee Company Becomes First to Produce Hemp Flooring
Tennessee Wood Flooring, a company based in Sevierville, formed a partnership earlier this year with Murray, Ky.-based Fibonacci LLC, the creator of HempWood, to begin making flooring out of hemp stalks. The companies were aiming to have the processes honed and flooring ready to order by March. Read more
3. FDA’s Latest Report Finds Less Than Half of CBD Products Accurately Labeled
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a report to Congress in July evaluating the CBD marketplace, which underscored a growing need for regulations. Of nearly 150 CBD products tested for cannabinoid content, the FDA found that half contained the amount of CBD on the label. Read more
2. 3 Ways to Prevent Your Hemp Harvest From Growing Hot
In Hemp Grower’s January/February issue, experts told us that the best way to prevent “hot hemp” is to choose cultivars that will test below the federal threshold of 0.3% THC, but they added that keeping the heat off requires so much more. Check out experts’ top three recommendations for growers looking to seize the CBD future while preventing their crops from running hot. Read more
1. How One Entrepreneur Is Turning Hemp Stalks Into Flooring Material
In Hemp Grower’s January/February issue, we spoke with entrepreneur Greg Wilson about his latest idea, flooring made from hemp, and how it was a potential game changer for the industry. Wilson co-founded Fibonacci LLC in 2018 and has trademarked and patented HempWood, which is made from compressed hemp stalks and sealed with a soy-based adhesive. Read more
