U.S. hemp is currently in what Gartner calls the “Trough of Disillusionment.”
Notice how it happened in Canada, initial excitement over hempseed as food then the HIA Years when they killed the food market for years almost taking Canadian hemp down with it.
Then more acres when Nutiva asked for them in SK just to drive the price down in MB, creating an actual trough of disillusionment in SK. Expect the same up and down cycles in the US, especially if farmers keep chasing unicorns instead of the one stable, legal, proven market: hemp grain as food.
After 2004 the Canadian strategy was “margin over volume” so they kept the price high, not sharing that fat margin with farmers or consumers. The U.S. could instead pursue a “volume over margin” strategy. And that’s just shelled seed, the hempseed oil/protein powder situation was even worse:
