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Ag economist says hemp, CBD market is saturated, prices tumbling

A University of Wisconsin ag economist says the challenge for the hemp industry right now is market development. Paul Mitchell with the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department says, ” We can grow it and we can process it, but nobody is sure what to do with it.”

Mitchell spoke to the Wisconsin Cannabis Expo Saturday and tells Brownfield hemp production far exceeds hemp product demand already nationwide. “The number I heard is about a four-billion dollar industry nationally for CBD, which they needed about 20-thousand acres to produce that much CBD. We harvested like 115 thousand acres, so we’ve got a lot of CBD out there.”

Mitchell tells Brownfield hemp for CBD prices to farmers peaked last July, and prices don’t look good for 2020. “The CBD production, the farmer-level production is way over the (demand of the) market so the price has come down. It’s less than 20% of what it was this summer.”

Mitchell says as more farmers consider growing hemp, there is already more production capacity than consumer demand and CBD companies need to find new uses and new ways to move hemp products.  He says the market for hemp seed and fiber is even further behind than the CBD market.