The burgeoning market for CBD, a health product derived from cannabis plants that avoid the “high” from marijuana, is considered “low-hanging fruit” for the nearly 600 Michigan farmers now growing hemp.
Over the past two months, officials have launched the state’s first regulated agricultural hemp farming pilot program. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development oversees the growing, processing and selling of hemp, including the rapidly expanding market for CBD, or cannabidiol.
Michigan Cannabis Farms LLC grows around 1,800 hemp plants at its location in Newaygo County. Founder Cory Roberts said most of the company’s production will likely go for CBD flower and extract.COURTESY PHOTO
Largely because of commodity prices and uncertainty over hemp byproducts, farmers and experts say most of the hemp being grown in Michigan is heading for the multi-billion-dollar CBD market, which shows no sign of slowing down.
“Right now, the low-hanging fruit is the CBD flower. It’s what most people are getting involved in, and it’s an opportunity for a substantial cash crop,” said Dave Crabill, vice president of the iHemp Michigan LLC, the trade association for the industrial hemp industry in Michigan.
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