YUMA, Ariz. — Dan Nowell walks through a field of cannabis plants, surrounded by green industrial hemp.
Nowell, the co-founder of Soil, Seed, and Water, said the plants could be more than 20 feet tall when fully grown.
Hemp lacks the THC of marijuana but has a variety of other uses. In 2019, many Arizona hemp farmers jumped into the market, focusing on a particular product from hemp: CBD.
“CBD was this gold rush,” Nowell said.
CBD is a naturally occurring compound found in cannabis. Recently it gained popularity for potential health benefits, including anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and anti-anxiety effects.
“I think a lot of farmers saw an ability to grow a commodity crop for illegal drug prices,” said Arizona State University professor Ken Sweat.
Sweat was part of a team that looked at the Arizona hemp market between 2019-2021. The report found that 90% of all hemp farmers in Arizona went bust.
The report found the Arizona hemp industry had multiple pitfalls.
“The failure is caused by the lack of research in seed quality that the farmer used as well as the lack of research in grow environment,” said ASU professor Max Leung.
Getting the proper seed was a major issue. According to the researchers, farmers sometimes used seeds that couldn't grow in Arizona's hot climate.
Other times the seeds produced plants with too much THC. State regulations required those crops to be destroyed or diluted.
"These farmers were not getting seeds from standardized sources. If you grow corn, your seeds are standardized. Tons of government regulations oversee that. Hemp doesn’t have this," Sweat said.
Even if the product overcame the different hurdles, CDB wasn't always as profitable as expected. At times the plants had too much THC and had to be destroyed.
“It was chasing the wrong product with the wrong seed,” Nowell said.
Nowell said he focused on everything hemp can be used for, not one product. He believes hemp can offer a green alternative for textiles, nylon, construction supplies, and more.
“Ten-15 years from now, I hope 50% of everything you see has something related to hemp in it,” Nowell said. "I don’t know if I'll get to see it in my lifetime. I hope I get to be a big part of it. I think it’s coming."
You can read the full study here.
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