Don’t grow hemp in 2020.
Or 2021. In fact, you should wait half a decade before even considering planting a single seed of hemp.
That’s the message the Director of the Wyoming Hemp Growers Association has a message for all Wyoming farmers. Matt Rankin is a firm proponent of the hemp industry and its potential to revolutionize Wyoming in several ways, but he says that growing hemp in 2020 would be disastrous for many farmers who might be looking at hemp as their financial salvation.
There are only 100 USDA offices in the country that can test hemp before its giving clearance for sale. Despite the enormous growth of their cannabis industry, Colorado only has two. Wyoming has one, which has only recently been set up. The office will quickly get “bottled-necked” with hemp samples for testing, greatly slowing down the process. And the testing rates cost more than one acre of hemp is worth.
Rankin has been working towards hemp as a viable, rotational crop in Wyoming for a long time, but he says the recently adopted plan approved by the US Department of Agriculture is hindering a lot more than its helping. He cautions all farmers with their eyes on hemp to wait until a strong market is built. And he plants the blame on a lack of progressive thinking on a governmental level.
There is more to this story, and KODI will be following up with this stark look on the short-term future of hemp as a Wyoming cash crop.
