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Industrial Hemp Serves Up New No-Till Market Opportunity
Hemp shows real promise as a specialty crop that can fit into farm rotations, but identifying markets and managing residue and other plant quirks will present challenges.
Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, industrial hemp is no longer classified as a controlled substance and appears poised to become a marketable cash crop for U.S. farmers.
Canadian growers have been growing hemp since the 1990s and supply much of the material for hemp-based products made in the U.S., though China is also a big supplier.
Estimates and expectations for U.S. income potential are high, largely due to a growing global demand for CBD (cannabidiol, a naturally occurring compound found in the flower of the hemp plant) oil and other hemp-based products. While 2017 hemp sales in the U.S. were roughly $800 million, Hemp Consulting Group cites estimates of a $10.6 billion dollar marketplace worldwide by 2025.
While that sounds promising and many agree, Bryan Parr, farmer and agronomist with Legacy Hemp in LaFarge, Wis., suggests tempering expectations a bit.
NO-TILL TAKEAWAYS
- Due to grain hemp’s fibrous nature, use a roller in spring to flatten the remaining stalks and get the plant material to the ground.
- Planting hemp for grain early only produces a taller plant that may be difficult or impossible to harvest with a combine.
- Follow hemp with corn rather than soybeans to harvest above the ground and keep from gathering too much fiber in the combine.
“I agree with the potential, but we’re getting caught up in the large numbers and I’m not certain about the time frame,” he says. “The farmers are hearing that markets are growing about 10-20 fold every year, but remember that…
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