Hemp Benchmarks found that several states experienced large shifts in the number of hemp licenses issued over the past year, including large increases and decreases across the country. However, the change in acreage tells a more nuanced story, Hemp Benchmarks Editorial Director Adam Koh told Hemp Grower.
"You'll be hard-pressed to find examples" of real growth in the market, Koh said, noting that all the states that led in acreage in 2019, including Tennessee, Colorado, and Oregon, saw significant declines in 2020. The states that did see growth in cultivation were either those that had small pilot projects in 2019 or just started their programs in 2020, he added. And the overall growth that did take place was minimal, with only a few thousand acres in total.
Below you will find stats from 2019-2020 on the five states with the largest increase* in hemp licenses and the five states that experienced the biggest decline:
*Clarification: Pennsylvania’s increased hemp license numbers does not necessarily reflect the actual increase in licenses from 2019-2020 due to a change in state licensing policy. The state allowed numerous grow sites to be under the same license in 2019 but changed its policy in 2020 to require that each of these sites have its own license, leading to an increase that may not represent the actual change.
