The hemp market bottleneck

CBD (cannabidiol) oil. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Since 2018, when Congress approved the planting of hemp in the U.S., hemp as a crop has surged by over 300%. According to the Department of Agriculture, growers seeded an estimated 142,691 acres in 2019. However, taking into consideration farmers who may not have reported complete data to the government, the number of total acres may be as high as 230,000, according to the advocacy group Vote Hemp.

As big of a cash crop as hemp is, there are even bigger issues concerning getting the product to market to extract CBD — the nonpsychoactive cannabis ingredient that is being added to a variety of beauty products and health supplements. According to New Frontier, a data firm that tracks the cannabis industry, the market has matured and expanded at such a rapid rate that the federal government hasn’t been able to keep pace with the production. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a multitude of farming operations across the nation sitting on acres of hemp with no place to go.