Half a dozen industrial fans hum inside a football field-size warehouse in White City. Lined up on the ground in neat rows are 500 white plastic bags, each three-foot by three-foot. The bags are full of hemp.
鈥淓ach one of these are super sacks,鈥� says Barry Epling, a consultant with this company, Hemp Inc. 鈥淪ome of them don鈥檛 have a lot of weight 鈥� some are only 20, 30 pounds. Some of them are 125, 130.鈥�
Hemp Inc. farmed on 42 acres of land on the Rogue River in Grants Pass this year. The hemp in these super sacks is drying to become smokable CBD cigarettes.
The research around CBD is murky. It comes from hemp and is in the cannabis family, though it doesn鈥檛 get users high. But these days it鈥檚 being put in everything from dog treats to an FDA-approved epilepsy medication.
Epling wears a gray fedora and blue puffy jacket inside the breezy Hemp Inc. warehouse. This strait-laced non-smoker from Las Vegas is not necessarily who you鈥檇 expect to be a cannabis producer, but the rapidly growing CBD market is drawing in entrepreneurs like him.
Epling reaches inside a white super sack to smell the pungent drying buds inside.
鈥淲e should end up with at least 60,000 pounds of really high quality pre-98 OG Bubba Kush,鈥� he says, recalling the name of the plant鈥檚 strain.
Growing Pains Of A New Industry
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the number of hemp growers in the state more than tripled since the federal Farm Bill passed in late 2018, removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. The land used to farm hemp increased five times over in Oregon, from 12,000 to 63,000 acres.
But for some in Southern Oregon, where hemp farms have become a ubiquitous part of the landscape, the new industry experienced growing pains in its first year of legalization.
The spike in growth caused price fluctuations. Growers struggled to find farm workers to harvest their crop and there were shortages of hemp drying facilities. And, not all of the new farmers knew what they were doing.
鈥淭hey may have not gotten the crop in the ground at the right time, they may not have harvested at the right time, it was wet early this year,鈥� says Sunny Summers, cannabis policy coordinator with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of reasons why we鈥檙e not going to see 63,000 acres.鈥�
Even with the industry鈥檚 growth, Summers says she doesn鈥檛 expect there to be an oversupply of hemp or, what it鈥檚 being largely grown for in Oregon, CBD oil.
The turbulence for growers continued in late October when proposed regulations about growing hemp came out from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The proposals create stricter rules to ensure hemp contains very low levels of the psychoactive chemical THC. There鈥檚 also a shorter timeframe when plants can be tested for THC and testing must be done in labs certified by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
鈥淭hat definitely is way more restrictive than what we have currently,鈥� Summers says.
Good Business For The Experienced
Business wasn鈥檛 bad for everyone in 2019.
Cheryl Johnson is a longtime cannabis farmer. She makes CBD lotions and candies with her business West Coast Baked Goodness. In her office in White City she removes the lid from a generic looking white container. Inside is bright orange powder.
It鈥檚 CBD cheese, she says.
鈥淭hese are developmental products,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be in everything, let鈥檚 just say that.鈥�
Besides making edibles, Johnson advises growers on how to stay in compliance with state and federal cannabis laws with another business called House Calls Financials. Over the past year, she says, a growing number of conventional farmers in the Rogue Valley are producing hemp.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e killing it. They know how to grow. In three years鈥� time it鈥檒l be a farmer鈥檚 game,鈥� she says.
Johnson is not particularly sympathetic to what she describes as the 鈥榞reen rush鈥� of new growers entering the hemp industry this year, who are now distressed about proposed USDA regulations.
鈥淧eople have to understand, this is a real business,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to lose money now that there are rules and regulations, then your margins weren鈥檛 good enough in the first place and you shouldn鈥檛 be in the industry.鈥�
But even with all the growing pains this year, she says, hemp offers the potential for a world-wide market for those who know how to do it right.
Uncertain Future
After nearly a year of the legal hemp industry in Oregon, even the experts don鈥檛 agree. It will take time to know whether hemp will become a permanent part of Oregon鈥檚 economy or another 鈥榞reen rush鈥�.
Sunny Summers with the Oregon agriculture department says the industry will correct itself.
鈥淎t some point it will level out, but [hemp] will become an important part of Oregon鈥檚 agricultural economy,鈥� she says.
The growers with Hemp Inc. produced three times what they鈥檇 projected for 2019, according to Barry Epling. But the industry鈥檚 volatility has him thinking about bubbles.
鈥淭here was an internet bubble. There鈥檚 been housing bubbles. There was a telecom bubble. This is a hemp bubble,鈥� Epling says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e in early enough I think you鈥檒l do really well but at some point, the bubble鈥檚 going to burst.鈥�
