Abstract

Hemp has the potential to support a decent living for small farmers in the US, but it depends on what will happen in the coming years after hemp is fully legalized. Hemp is no different than any other crop; if fully legalized, industry would quickly employ methods commonly used on other crops. The industrial system stands at the ready with machines, inputs, universities, transportation systems, markets, and capital, to plant hemp on large acreages, process it, market it, and bring it to consumers. If unleashed, the vast majority of the crop will be grown on large acreages under industrial management, mechanized, and with few people on the land. Organic hemp will be another option offered by the industrial model, but equally as mechanized. Any profit advantage of hemp to farmers would, within 5 to 10 years, diminish to roughly equal the market returns of other industrial crops like corn or beans.