Here & Now

Will Hemp Be the New Cash Crop?

Frederica Freyberg:
Is Wisconsin on the verge of a modern-day gold rush by way of an old crop that’s new again? President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law on Thursday, a bill that paves the way for a resurgence of industrial hemp, from which cannabidiol or CBD can be extracted. Not to be confused with extracts in marijuana, CBD is non-intoxicating and touted as helping with everything from anxiety to seizures to insomnia. We are joined now by the director of governmental relations for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Rob Richards. Thanks very much for being here.

Rob Richards:
Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
How does the new farm bill change the rules for industrial hemp production in Wisconsin?

Rob Richards:
There are four main things, but the big one is it removes hemp from the definition under the Controlled Substances Act. That is the game changer for the industry right there. No longer will the D.E.A. be in the hemp business. It now goes to USDA and FDA regulatory authority, but that’s the big one for the industry. Secondly, it makes hemp eligible for crop insurance. So those farmers who have taken huge risk this past year growing now have some insurance and can use some risk management tools with regard to growing hemp.

Frederica Freyberg:
Now in your mind, does industrial hemp represent, as we kind of just suggested, a new gold rush given that the CBD oil can be extracted from it?

Rob Richards:
It has the potential. There is a lot of excitement out there in rural Wisconsin, even urban Wisconsin, for the possibilities of utilizing hemp not only for the grain and seed and fiber component but CBD is kind of the sexy thing that everybody’s talking about right now, and there is some good profitability to be made for farmers.

Frederica Freyberg:
I was going to ask, how valuable could those crops end up being?

Rob Richards:
It depends what you’re growing but right now, the profitability is on the organic grain side and CBD. So a farmer that’s growing for CBD, they’re going to produce like a kilo, you could get paid anywhere from probably $4 to $10,000 for that kilo producing that flower. It’s much less for the grain side of it, but you’re still making more money than you would be on corn or soy beans right now.

Frederica Freyberg:
Absolutely. How much would you have to plant or harvest to make that kind of money like you were just talking about?

Rob Richards:
When you’re doing CBD, it’s a little bit more intensive. I like to compare it to growing tobacco or something like that. So you’re not going to have the hundreds of acres that I think a farmer would plant for grain or seed. But for those farmers that want to try it and do the 10, 15, 20 acres, there’s room for some money here.

Frederica Freyberg:
And yet again, it’s rather hard to cultivate?

Rob Richards:
It can be tricky. I mean, for CBD, I know of some farmers that have harvested like they would grain, and then they just — they process it and seal it so it doesn’t rot or go rancid, so there’s different processing ways to do it. The most common one right now is that people would hand-pick it and pretty much store it like they would tobacco to dry.

Frederica Freyberg:
How well suited is Wisconsin to growing hemp?

Rob Richards:
I think we’re very well suited. We have a very long history with it. We thrived in the 1930s and 40s. We were the leader in the country in growing it. So I think we have to re-learn some of those practices, but we have a lot of information out there. We have experiences from people growing in Canada. And they’ve been growing in other states for four, five years, in Kentucky, Colorado. So there’s a lot of information to share but we still have a lot to learn.

Frederica Freyberg:
Aren’t some producers growing hemp under a pilot program with the State Department of Ag right now?

Rob Richards:
Right now they are because they have to. Under the ’14 Farm Bill, that authorized states to set up a hemp pilot program. That’s what Wisconsin is operating under right now. The ’18 Farm Bill changes that. We will no longer have to have a hemp pilot program for research purposes. So we need to work with the state legislature in doing another hemp bill to try to mirror what the federal government has allowed us to do now.

Frederica Freyberg:
What kind of interest are you hearing from producers and others wanting to get in on this particular crop?

Rob Richards:
There is a lot of interest. Unfortunately with the way milk and commodity prices are right now, farmers are looking for anything to diversify and make some income, and this is one way that I think they can do it.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you have any idea what the ramp-up would be to this or can people start putting this in the ground this spring?

Rob Richards:
They can start putting it in the ground. I highly recommend that they contact people that know what they’re doing, that maybe contracts would be involved so they know they have a buyer at the end of the day, very important thing, but there’s a lot of information that’s going to be shared. I think the UW-Extension is going to up their game and get information out there to ag agents across the state. I’m hoping the UW gets involved with research in helping our farmers. So I think there’s a lot of room here for people to make money and for a lot of education to occur.

Frederica Freyberg:
Rob Richards, Farm Bureau. Thanks very much.

Rob Richards:
Thank you very much.