A significant amount of 2019’s hemp crop in the U.S. was ruined and rendered unsalable. That unhappy result was due in part to cultivators and processors struggling to dry and store harvested hemp successfully after U.S. hemp production roughly quadrupled from 2018 to 2019. In many cases, methods, equipment, and facilities to meet the challenge of preserving increased volumes of hemp biomass fell short. In others, unsold biomass saw its CBD content degrade over time in an oversupplied market, lowering its value.
However, new practices are being developed to preserve harvested hemp. Experts entering the hemp industry from related fields have also been applying existing methods, namely cryogenic freezing, to help reduce post-harvest crop losses.
