As we have reported previously, last year’s difficult season resulted in many hemp cultivators withdrawing from the market. While many entered the hemp sector with expectations of lucrative returns, expectations have been adjusted in the wake of significant overproduction in 2019, which pushed down wholesale prices and has left many farmers sitting on unsold harvests.
“You can’t tell farmers they’ll make the same money as last year or the year before,” Wendy Mosher, president and CEO of New West Genetics, a Colorado-based hemp seed producer, said in a late May interview with Natural Products Insider. “You can’t afford to get in unless you’re vertically integrated. You’ve got maybe $8,000 – $12,000 per acre in spending [when farming hemp for CBD].”
Such sentiments are resulting in a contraction in acreage registered for hemp cultivation this year in several major hemp producing states. Tough market conditions may also lead to some licensed farmers not planting a crop, according to statements from numerous state regulators across the U.S.
