http://wivb.com/2016/08/12/3-years-into-nations-hemp-experiment-crops-future-is-hazy/August 12, 2016
Hemp could be enormously profitable, but right now there are just as many questions as answers for Will and Ally Cabaniss, two Florida natives who moved to southern Colorado to embark on the hemp business.
“Every day brings something new and different,” said Will Cabaniss, holding up a red plastic cup containing a hemp seedling awaiting planting. “Right now we’re just building data for the industry, seeing what works and what doesn’t.”
Hemp entrepreneurs (are) saying that the market for hemp oil is currently much larger than its more traditional fiber uses. Like corn, hemp can also be used for fuel, though low gas prices have steered growers to other uses for their hemp crops.
There’s no commodity pricing to say how much processed hemp is selling for — right now all the hemp grows already have buyers in place, sold under private contracts.
“We’re having great success with the (oil), but the grain is still coming along. We have some growers having phenomenal yields; we have some growers having no yields at all,” said Graves, whose company Atalo Holdings Inc. includes a hemp-oil company.
Back in Colorado, agriculture officials say the crop is very much still an experiment for growers. Farmers don’t yet know how much water the plant needs — anecdotal reports have it using a third as much water as corn or wheat, though published research is flimsy. And the agency is still testing to see how Colorado’s high altitude affects the plant’s THC content.
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