Idaho’s second hemp season features more acres and fewer licensees.

Acreage rose by about 71% while the number of growers fell by 40%.

State law allows production of industrial hemp and related research, processing and transportation. It allows tetrahydrocannabinol up to the federal threshold of 0.3% on a dry-weight basis. It does not allow in-state sale of products that contain THC.

The state Department of Agriculture approved about 500 acres last year and 859 to date this year. It licensed 10 producers, six handlers and four handler-producers last year, and six producers, five handlers and one producer-handler this year.

Last season “gave us a better understanding of what the potential issues could be and what educational material could be provided,” said Sydney Plum, department public information officer.

“The second growing season will provide an opportunity for growers to apply the lessons learned from last year,” said Braden Jensen, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation governmental affairs director. “We still see farmers taking a modest and measured approach as they continue to learn how best to grow this crop in the state.”

Tim Cornie plans to grow 8-10 acres of hemp  for grain, the same as last year. It will be used in food products made at Buhl-based 1000 Springs Mill, which he co-owns.

Establishing a stronger stand is a goal of 2023 changes such as cross-planting in different directions and using a drill that sets the small-seeded crop more deeply, Cornie said. Planting was expected to start in mid- to late May, about a week late, so soil can warm to 53 degrees.

“Once we get the process of growing hemp grain dialed in, then we will be expanding acres” including by working with neighboring farmers, he said.

Additional production of foundation seed for hemp grain could be a factor in the statewide acreage increase, Cornie said.

As for the participation drop, the quick rise and fall of other states’ production centered on cannabidiol (CBD) oil may explain it in part, he said, even though industrial hemp is different.

“A lot of people are waiting and watching,” said Triston Sponseller of Idaho Premium Hay Farms near Roberts, believed to be the state’s biggest grower. The farm late in the first week of May finished planting about 550 acres, up from 320 in 2022.

Last year’s hemp crop was sold to an out-of-state buyer for use as fiber and hurd, a post-separation coarse material that can be made into other products.

“I had a good experience last year,” Sponseller said. “I really enjoyed it. It was fun. I enjoyed doing something new.”

But the crop was “not the easiest to harvest,” a possible factor in the participation drop, he said.

“There’s no set way to put this stuff up,” Sponseller said. He even harvested last year’s hemp crop differently than the client suggested, as “the equipment in his area was different than what I was used to.”

He plans to adjust watering, particularly timing, he said. Hemp is “experimental in the area, so it’s going to take a few years playing with it and trying to perfect it.”

First-year grower Brad Darrington, of Darrington Cattle & Crops LLC of Declo, in mid-April finished planting 33 acres — based on field and pivot sprinkler availability — for fiber. He has a contract with a Rexburg processing plant.

He was drawn to hemp partly because few producers in his area grow it, Darrington said. And as a short-season crop, “I like how it doesn’t use much water or nutrients.”

Industrial hemp is “something that might start taking off in the future,” he said.