A newly legal crop is drawing interest from farmers across Baldwin County this spring, as growers look for an alternative to commodities that have struggled in recent years. After a run of poor harvests and depressed prices for traditional row crops, a number of local farmers are preparing to plant hemp for the first time under a new state program.
Longtime Baldwin County farmer Chip Bryars, who grew up working the land, said the past two to three growing seasons have been especially hard on producers in the area. Harvest conditions were poor and crop quality suffered, leaving many farmers with little or no profit despite the work invested. That squeeze is part of what pushed Bryars and two business partners to launch Hemp-Tek, a farming consultation company built to help growers across Baldwin County and the wider Southeast transition into hemp production.
Hemp-Tek is positioning itself as a one-stop resource for farmers, offering everything from seedlings to help lining up buyers for the finished product. Bryars said the company is aimed at growers moving away from traditional row crops as well as newcomers hoping to start a hemp operation from scratch. He will also be growing hemp on his own farm this season.
The opportunity exists because of a change in federal law. The 2018 Farm Bill, signed by Congress in December, removed hemp from the federal controlled-substances list and reclassified it as an agricultural commodity. Hemp comes from the same plant family as marijuana, but is legally defined by its low concentration of THC, the psychoactive compound responsible for marijuana’s intoxicating effects. Under the new rules, hemp is defined as any part of the plant containing no more than 0.3 percent THC, including its derivatives, extracts and cannabinoids, according to the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.
Bryars said the crop could provide a meaningful economic boost for Alabama agriculture, but growers are also taking on real risk by being among the first to plant it. Because hemp has never been grown commercially in the region, there is no historical data on how it performs locally, and it is considered a costly, high-input crop to plant and maintain.
Adding to the risk, crop insurance is not yet available for hemp, since insurers typically require a track record of successful planting and harvest before offering coverage. That means growers this season are effectively self-insured. Bryars said a major weather event, such as a hurricane, could wipe out a farmer’s investment with no financial safety net. For that reason, he and his partners are treating this first season as a test run, planting modest acreage to prove the crop can be grown successfully before scaling up in future years.
Hemp has an enormous range of potential uses — Bryars estimates more than 25,000 applications exist for various parts of the plant — but the most immediate market opportunity is CBD oil, a non-intoxicating compound that has become popular in health food stores and specialty shops. Foley recently approved a business license for Wonderfully Hemp, a new store that will sell CBD-infused products including oils, candles, gum, candy and vape products.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is extracted from the flowers and buds of the marijuana or hemp plant and does not produce a high, unlike THC. Medical research on CBD’s health benefits remains limited and somewhat mixed, but demand for CBD products has grown rapidly in recent years, and Bryars said it will be the primary focus for hemp growers in the early stages of Alabama’s program because it currently offers the highest value per acre of any use for the crop.
Even if consumer interest in CBD products eventually cools, Bryars believes hemp has staying power because of its versatility. He said Hemp-Tek is working with research partners exploring hemp-based textiles, construction materials such as hemp-based concrete and fiberglass, insulation and paper products. The company is also studying hemp as a potential bioenergy feedstock for power plants, noting that hemp can produce more energy per acre than trees, an advantage that has caught the attention of energy companies.
Fiber production is another area of long-term interest. Cotton remains a major crop in Baldwin County alongside peanuts, corn and soybeans, but Bryars said hemp could eventually rival it. He estimates hemp can produce more fiber per acre than cotton, positioning it as a potential major crop within five to ten years, once the industry matures.
Perhaps the most ambitious application under exploration is turning hemp into fuel that farms could use to power their own equipment. Bryars said Hemp-Tek hopes to eventually bring a conversion machine directly to farms, allowing growers to process hemp into diesel fuel on-site based on their annual fuel usage, effectively growing their own energy supply.
Bryars acknowledged the push into hemp is likely to face resistance from industries that could be disrupted by new hemp-based alternatives, including pharmaceutical and alcohol companies. He said Hemp-Tek intends to move forward regardless, given the size of the potential market.
Statewide, 182 farmers have been approved to grow hemp during the 2019 season, including 20 in Baldwin County and eight in Mobile County, according to state agriculture officials. A total of 65 processors have also been approved statewide, with two based in Baldwin County and four in Mobile County, according to Christel Harden of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries. Five Alabama universities have been approved to participate in the program as well.
Growers approved for the program were expected to attend a final meeting with state officials before beginning work on their 2019 hemp crops.