The staff of Hemp Industry Daily is attending the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California. We asked members of the hemp industry: How will farmers cope with the USDA’s hemp rules in 2020?
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"I don't think I want to take the risk of having to throw away my whole farm or go to jail because my product has gone slightly off. There's not going to be very much hemp grown this year because of this. People with money are going to wait for everything to be settled."
– John Eller, hemp farmer, Corning, California
"I might not grow anymore after this year. The yahoos have us screwed."
– Wayne Strauch, hemp farmer, Silverton, Oregon
"People are doing the best they can to comply with a set of rules that are really unrealistic."
– Kayla Haddix, owner, Hippe Hempster, Loveland, Colorado
"It gives us a stable market to deal with. Now we know what's going to be legal and what's not."
– Landin Butterfield, crop consultant, Medford, Oregon
"Industry leaders and organizations from across the hemp economy ... are discussing our options, and we are going to protect the farmers. Whatever that means in terms of what our administrative or other legal remedies are, we will be pursuing."
– Joy Beckerman, president, Hemp Industries Association
"The consistent inactivity at a federal and state level is frustrating for everybody involved. It’s making a lot of people have cold feet about getting involved because there is so much red tape."
– Zack Brown, Flex Mod Solutions, Denver
"In my meetings with the USDA, they were very interested in the science and objective facts and were looking at how they could make the regulations more scientifically based. I got the impression that they were open to making some quality changes that were within their power to change to help add certainty to the process."
– Josh Schneider, front left, CEO, Cultivaris Hemp, San Diego
“My prediction is that there will be less hemp grown this summer because of the issues that farmers and businesses have faced processing their product into a sellable form. There is so much uncertainty now. ... We planted over 3,000 acres in 2019, but this next year, I don't think we're going to do that."
– Mark Samuels, left, co-founder, Primordia, Brawley, California
