
Dec. 20 marks the one-year anniversary of the 2018 Farm Bill being signed into law, a landmark moment that launched a new era of legal hemp production in the U.S. The past year saw explosive growth and shifting regulations for the new industry, and Hemp Grower was born to provide insight into all aspects of this nascent market.
Here, we look back at Hemp Grower’s top 10 most popular articles of 2019.

5. In Wisconsin, Farmers Blame ‘Hot’ Crops on Delays in State Testing
This past harvest season, Wisconsin Public Radio reported on the plight of seven farmers in the South Central Wisconsin Hemp Cooperative, each of whom had submitted harvest notices to the state around the same time—30 days prior to anticipated harvest—in order to get their crop tested by the state for cannabinoid content. The problem was that the actual test times for each farmer were divergent, and, in some cases, the tests recorded “hot” crops that exceeded the 0.3-percent threshold, an issue that the farmers blamed on the testing delays. Read more

4. How Cornell University's Hemp Seed Bank Will Change the Industry
In an interview that was originally published in the November 2019 issue of Hemp Grower’s sister publication, Greenhouse Management, Cornell University professor Larry Smart discussed his hemp research, establishing a hemp seed bank and developing hemp genetics. From his perspective, it’s the type of research needed to enable hemp growers to succeed now that hemp is legal again in the U.S. Read more

3. What the Charlotte’s Web Plant Variety Patent Means for the Legal Hemp Industry
Charlotte’s Web holds an iconic status in the emergent cannabis industry, and the company now holds the first patented hemp plant variety—a plant called “CW2A.” The patent was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May 2018 and was approved in July of this year. So, what does that mean for the hemp industry? Read more

2. One Hemp Cultivator’s Waste is Another Business’s Opportunity
In a column that originally appeared in the September 2019 issue of Hemp Grower’s sister publication, Cannabis Business Times, columnist Kenneth Morrow tackled some of the industry’s most prevalent questions about the nascent cannabis byproduct processing industry: What can be done with all the cannabis and hemp extraction byproduct? What current and future uses are possible for their biomass, from pulp to fiber? Morrow’s main takeaway was that cannabis production does not have to be a wasteful industry if it chooses not to. Read more

1. Newly Legal U.S. Hemp Industry Sees Early Supply Boom, Wholesale Price Crash
The supply of hemp biomass was skyrocketing by early September in the wake of U.S. legalization, and in anticipation of the federal regulations that were released later in the year. Demand for hemp-derived cannabinoids helped propel the adjacent extraction market, but analysts and growers were concerned that production was outpacing consumer interest, leading to a price crash during the 2019 cultivation season. Read more

Bonus: PanXchange Hemp Market Updates
In August 2019, Hemp Grower began publishing hemp wholesale pricing information in partnership with PanXchange, which produces indices for emerging commodities based on information acquired through surveys with vetted and anonymous market participants. In our most recent update in November, we reported that the fragmentation and inefficiencies in the market are being further compounded by the lack of firms providing storage. Read more