Opportunities for Commercial Hemp Production

Abstract

Hemp production has been nonexistent in the United States since the 1950s. However, low prices for traditional crops have peeked interest in commercial hemp production. The current literature on hemp suggests that it may compete on the margin with traditional crops, but is not likely to generate sizeable profits. Hemp appears slightly more profitable than traditional row crops, but less profitable than other specialty crops. An important constraint to a viable commercial hemp industry is the current state of harvesting and processing technologies, which are quite labor intensive, and result in relatively high per unit costs.