1. ISDA hemp program detail

Idaho hemp acres more than doubled again in 2024, the state’s third growing season.

“It looks great this year so far,” Roberts-area farmer Triston Sponseller said of his crop, believed to be the state’s largest.

“I’m just a little shorter on acres this year, but that’s just because of the way my rotation worked,” said Sponseller, who grew about 350 acres in 2022 and 550 last year.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture approved 459 acres in 2022, 1,274 in 2023 and 2,577 to date this year. Twenty producers or handlers are licensed, down from 23 in 2023.

“More farmers are getting more accustomed to this, and maybe experimenting a little bit more,” said Braden Jensen, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation governmental affairs director. They have been working to learn more about which varieties perform well, and about the market.

After the 2018 Farm Bill allowed U.S hemp production, “there was more supply than there was demand, even on the industrial side,” he said. Farmers and processors are continuing to figure out the appropriate size of the industry “so we get the number of acres to match demand.”

Whitefield Global, which operates a hemp processing plant in Rexburg, last year contracted for about 1,200 acres. This year’s total approaches 2,000, and future increases will depend on the uptake of current supply and the development of markets and products, said John Lupien, chief innovation officer.

Crop rotations will come into play to a greater degree as the state’s hemp industry develops, said Sponseller, a Whitefield partner.

He has grown hemp “back-to-back the last two years on some fields. That’s why I rotated,” he said. “Next year, we’ll see more farmers rotating, but also experimenting with just a single year rotation” such as with potatoes.

Declo-area farmer Brad Darrington is growing silage corn where hemp stood last year, “and it’s doing just fine,” he said.

Roger Vincent of the Filer area stored his 2023 hemp crop, for grain, and this year planted the 5 acres in malt barley instead.

His son, first-year farmer Chase Vincent, is growing hemp on about 2 acres. He would like to grow it for seed, fiber used in insulation or other home products, and possibly for seed oil. He is licensed as a producer and as a handler.

“I like the idea of a renewable resource such as hemp,” he said.

Vincent did not meet a timing-related requirement in his licensing process and had to restart it. “Part of the learning curve,” he said. He planted about three weeks later than anticipated, so he increased seed density slightly.

“It has taken off really well with the water, and with the heat we have coming,” he said.

Hemp uses less water than many crops, important given recent water-rights issues in southern Idaho, said Sponseller, a major hay grower. Some states offer a financial incentive to grow hemp — which he supports — due to its water thriftiness, ability to sequester carbon and other qualities.

A hemp grower currently has potential to earn two to three times what a grain or hay crop pays, he said.

Sponseller expects hemp to impact the state economy substantially.

“So many products can be manufactured with hemp,” he said. “It’s exciting to be part of that and see it expand.”

This year’s acreage is mostly for fiber, and a couple of producers are growing hemp for cannabidiol (CBD) oil pressing, said Casey Monn, ISDA food safety, hemp and hops bureau chief. Inspection of licensed producers likely will start in August and conclude in October.

Hemp grown and cultivated in the state can contain up to 0.3% delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the federal limit. But all manufactured hemp products cannot contain any THC, including products for distribution out of state.

Department staff “continue to remain diligent with answering questions from the public and industry,” Monn said.