Hemp production in the US rose by nearly 20% last year, following a difficult 2022 for the industry, which experienced a significant decline.
According to the latest figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the value of hemp production increased by 18% to $291m in 2023.
This was buoyed by an increase in the value of hemp production in the open, which jumped by 22% to $258m, while the area harvested for all purposes rose by 15% to 21,079 acres.
For the entire US and all utilizations, however, the planted area for hemp dipped by 2% to 27,680 acres.
Floral hemp in the open represented the lion’s share of the year’s crops, up 22% to 8.03m pounds with a value of $241m, up by over a third (35%).
Grain hemp also grew by 28% to 3.11m pounds, but the value of hemp grown for grain fell by 36% to just $2.31m.
It was a similar story with fibre hemp which saw production rise by 133% to 49.1m pounds, but saw the value of fibre hemp sold fall 59% to $11.6m.
It comes as the industry continues to call out for more stringent regulations, often cited as a key contributor to the decline in the industry in 2022.
Last week, The US Hemp Authority (USHA) announced a new certification process in a move aimed at cleaning up the sparsely regulated Delta-8 THC market.
Delta-8 THC, a psychoactive compound derived from the hemp plant, remains federally legal in the US due to specific wording in the 2018 Farm Bill.
In a press release, the organization addressed calls for ‘drastic action’ from lawmakers, some of which have called for the federal criminalization of all hemp products, even non-intoxicating substances like CBD.
“Such action would devastate the hemp industry, U.S. farmers, and small businesses that sell these products—not to mention deny millions of consumers access to popular health and wellness alternatives,” the USHA said.
