Annual cannabis production in Colorado is currently more than double that of other US states.
With legal hemp production gradually returning to the United States, Colorado has become the largest producer of cannabis in the country. This year, Colorado farmers planted 9,000 acres of hemp, up from 5,921 acres in 2016. The state’s hemp acreage accounts for nearly 40 percent of total hemp production in the United States, more than twice as much as any other state in the country.
“It’s growing really fast, and non-THC-derived products are driving that growth,” said Scott Hoon, owner of Hunn Planning and Policy in Eagle County, Colorado. Phil Daily.
Colorado farmers have comparatively more legal freedom to grow the versatile crop. In most Colorado counties, hemp is treated like any other agricultural product, and therefore is not as stringently regulated as marijuana, which the state has Approved for medicinal and adult uses.
Hemp and marijuana are both types of Cannabis sativa L. plants, but they are They differ in chemical composition and uses. Hemp contains no more than 0.3 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive compound that causes a euphoric effect.
His cannabis is harvested seeds and leg, which can be used to produce:
- food
- Nutritional supplements
- body care products
- paper
- Textiles
- Building materials
- bioplastic
- Biofuels
Colorado’s hemp program, now in its fourth harvest, has grown steadily since the state regulated the crop in 2014. Farmers produced just 200 acres in the first year, then 2,200 acres in 2015.
“In the first year, people thought we were growing drugs,” said Damien Faris, co-founder of the largest cannabis farm in the United States. Denver Post. “Farmers are now approaching us and asking how they can use hemp in crop rotation. It is a big shift.”
To keep up with the factory processing, the case is in the process of trying to get a decorticator, a machine that separates the outer layer of the cannabis stalk from its stem.
Where does hemp grow in the United States
While hemp is believed to be among the very The first domesticated industrial crop With Long history in AmericaOnly in recent years has the sustainable and multifaceted plant begun its return to the United States
Today, the value of the cannabis market in the country is estimated 688 million dollarsWith the increasing demand for cannabidiol (Convention on Biological DiversityHemp oil supplements Help drive the market.
Since President Barack Obama signed the 2014 Federal Farm Act to open up hemp cultivation to universities and state agriculture departments that have regulated the crop, more than 30 states Restrictions on cannabis production were lifted. Wisconsin is The latest to end the nationwide ban on the cultivation of hemp. South Carolina, historically a province in terms of cannabis policy, also recently Approved the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
