• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Business Directory
    • Buyers | Licensees
    • Sellers | Ancillary Businesses
    • Submit Product & Service Press Release
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE Jobs Exchange
  • Events
  • Featured Videos
  • Product & Service Press Releases
  • Sponsored Polls
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Archived Webinars
  • Whitepapers

Cannabis Business Executive - Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

Recreational, Medical, Marijuana, Cannabis, And Hemp News for Cannabis Businesses

  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2
  • Home
  • Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • International
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • Israel
    • US A to F
      • Alabama
      • Alaska
      • Arizona
      • Arkansas
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Connecticut
      • Delaware
      • District of Columbia
      • Florida
    • US G to M
      • Georgia
      • Hawaii
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Idaho
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Kentucky
      • Louisiana
      • Maine
      • Maryland
      • Massachusetts
    • US M to N
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Mississippi
      • Missouri
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • North Dakota
    • US O to V
      • Ohio
      • Oklahoma
      • Oregon
      • Pennsylvania
      • Rhode Island
      • South Carolina
      • South Dakota
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Utah
      • Vermont
    • US V to W
      • Virginia
      • Washington
      • Wisconsin
      • Wyoming
      • Guam
      • Puerto Rico
  • Industry News
    • Advertising, Marketing, PR & Research
    • Banking, Finance & Real Estate
    • Compliance and Regulations
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Retailers
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • HR and Staffing
    • North Of The Border
    • Industry People/On the Move
    • Packaging and Supplies
    • Press Releases
    • Processors
    • Producers
    • Security Solutions
    • Science and Technology
    • South Of The Border
  • CBE Lists
    • Ancillary Businesses
      • 2019 CBE Ancillary Business Survey CLICK HERE
      • 2018 CBE 155 A/B
      • 2017 CBE 150 A/B
      • 2016 CBE 100 A/B
    • Producers, Processors, Retailers
      • 2017 CBE 200 PPRs
      • 2015 CBE 100 PPRs
    • Industry Women
      • Glass Ceiling Wreckers: 2019 CBE Power Women of Cannabis
      • 2017 CBE 75 Most Important Women
      • 2016 CBE Top 50 Women
      • 2014 CBE Most Influential Women
    • Most Important Companies
      • 2016 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
      • 2014 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
    • Political 100
      • 2017 CBE Political 100
      • 2016 CBE 100 Political
      • 2014 CBE Political 50
    • 2014 CBE 100 Most Important People
    • CBE RFP Hotlists
      • 2014 CBE Lab Testing Services HotList
      • 2016 BHO Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Supercritical CO2 Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Security Solutions
      • 2016 Edibles & Infused Products
  • Company Stories
    • Up and Comers
  • Hemp Business Executive
    • Hemp Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Industry News
    • Hemp State Regulatory Agencies
  • Newsletters
    • CBE Week
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
  • Op-Ed
    • Cartoons
    • The Buck Stops Here
    • Opinions
    • Comments
  • Associations
  • State Regulatory Agencies
    • Marijuana
    • Hemp
  • Contact
  • AB Survey
  • About Us
  • Account
  • Accounting Services
  • Advertise
  • Advertising, PR & Marketing
  • All Cannabis News
  • Ancillary Business Survey 2018
  • Ancillary Business Survey 2019
  • Archived Webinars
  • Associations & Organizations
  • Banking & Payment Processing
  • Better Start for the Glass Ceiling in this Industry, CBE’s Most Influential Women
  • Book Reviews
  • Business Directory
  • Business Directory Introduction
  • Business Directory Listing
  • Business Directory Manage
  • Business Directory Registration Info
  • Business Directory Welcome
  • Call for speakers
  • Cannabis Investments
  • Cart
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE HotLists
    • CBE Lab Testing Services HotList 2014
  • CBE Lists
  • CBE Political 50
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • CBE Press News
  • Checkout
  • Consulting Services
  • Consumption Gear
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Create Your Product & Service Press Release
  • Creative Submission
  • Cultivation Products & Services
  • Current Poll
  • Edible & Infused Products
  • Editor’s Page
  • Email Whitelisting Instructions
  • Event Listing Questionaire
  • Featured Videos
  • Funding Options
  • Hemp State Regulatory List
  • Home
  • Human Capital Management Newsletters
  • Industry Jobs
  • Join the CBE Business Directory
  • Join the Directory
  • Lab Testing Regulations
  • Lab Testing Services
  • Login
  • Logout
  • Marijuana State Regulatory Contacts
  • Marijuana Tax Facts
  • Media Kit
  • Medical Marijuana Qualifying Conditions
  • Members
  • MJ Media Kit
  • Most Popular Stories
  • Most Read Stories
  • New Product & Service Listings Welcome
  • News Releases
  • Newsletters
    • Ask CBE
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Week
  • On the Move
  • Organizations & Associations
  • Packaging & Supplies
  • Password Reset
  • Policy & Legal
  • PPR Survey
  • Product Releases
  • Profile Update
  • Register
  • Security Solutions
  • Software & Technology
  • Sponsored Polls
  • State Cannabis Product Packaging Requirements
  • Terms of Service
  • Thank You
  • The Most Influential People in the Cannabis Industry, The Cannabis Business Executive 100
  • Training & Educational Services
  • Upcoming Webinars
  • User
  • Whitepapers
  • WV Senate passes medical marijuana bill to House
  • Categories
  • Locations
  • My Bookings
You are here: Home / Hemp Business Executive / Hemp Industry News / The Future of Hemp is Genetics

The Future of Hemp is Genetics

January 15, 2020 by AggregatedNews Leave a Comment

By Vince Sliwosk, Attorney @ Harris Bricken

Hemp was legalized federally just over a year ago. During the run-up, legislators from Mitch McConnell to Ron Wyden said things like “[b]y removing hemp from the federal list of controlled substances, farmers can explore the bright future of this versatile crop, found in everything from a coffee mug to your car dashboard.” One planting season in, however, farmers aren’t doing so much “exploring” with respect to hemp: instead, the Brightfield Group estimates that 87% of 2019 hemp acreage was planted for CBD extraction. Among the many hemp farmers our law firm represents in Oregon, Washington and California, that number feels closer to 100%.

Will people get rich farming hemp for CBD? It’s hard to say, given the newness of that market, apparent oversupply issues and pricing volatility for CBD. Assuming long-term and robust demand for CBD products, though, it’s likely that large family farms will eventually dominate output, just as in U.S. agriculture generally. It also seems likely that the margins for these large farms will expand and contract similarly to margins for other crops, based on many complex factors. Today’s small hemp-CBD start-ups growing from 1 to 99 acres will likely diminish in profitability and prevalence.

And that’s where genetics come in. If hemp is to be like other crops, it seems probable that the truly big money will not be in hemp production, but in the creation and licensing of proprietary plant material. Along those lines, Oregon’s biggest hemp company already is a seed company called Oregon CBD. That oufit is approaching $1 billion in annual revenues after just a few short years in operation.

If you want a certain CBD-rich strain–or a CBG strain, or a CBN strain, or any other kind of hemp strain–you would go to a seed company. You would do this even though seed certification is not addressed under the 2018 Farm Bill because you want to be sure that you get females and those females do not germinate into 0.3%+ THC plants. You would do this because you want proven genetics and you want warranties around those genetics. And eventually, you would do this because you want to be sure your hemp seeds are designed for production with certain types of herbicides in mind, a la Roundup Ready corn.

The federal regulatory environment is shaping up to facilitate success for firms with valuable hemp genetics. Currently, hemp genetics firms are able to formally register and protect their intellectual property, design products with specified epigenetic factors in mind (i.e. approved pesticides), and count on clear federal parameters for their business models. Some of these are helpful, others less so. Each crucial plank is briefly summarized below.

  1. Intellectual Property.  Earlier this year, USDA’s Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) began accepting applications of seed-propagated hemp for protection under the Plant Variety Protection Act. PVPO examines new applications and grants certificates that protect varieties for 20 years. Elsewhere, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) already has granted its first hemp plant patent, with more in the pipeline. Plant patents afford similar protections to protected plant varieties with respect to duration and scope. (For a good explanation of the interplay and differences between plant variety and patent protection for plants, go here.)
  2. Epigenetics.  Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency approved a list of ten pesticides to be used in hemp production. This means that firms creating and registering hemp plant media will have crucial guidelines for seed design. It seems very likely that hemp strains eventually will be built with the application of certain chemical agents in mind, again like Roundup Ready corn, if this type of research and development is not underway already.
  3. Crop Insurance.  The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently announced a pilot insurance program for hemp growers. Farmers will now have greater incentive to grow hemp at scale and to innovate, which, in turn, means a more lucrative and dependable market for seed genetics firms. In the bigger picture, the USDA itself will also encourage cultivation by providing a federal plan for producers in states or tribal territories without their own USDA-approved plans.
  4. Crop Testing Rules.  The problematic total THC testing protocol in USDA’s final interim rule will create demand for innovation in genetics– unless we see major changes following the close of public comment on January 29. But wherever we end up, seed firms will strive to create and refine cultivars that: a) express certain cannabinoids predominantly and b) pass testing strictures. It has already been argued, for example, that the current testing rules could eliminate the viability of current CBD strains altogether. Time to innovate.

In all, some farmers will do well growing hemp, particularly the larger family farms. Others will inevitably fail. But the big money will be made in plant genetics, including the design, sale and licensing of intellectual property. As certain hemp cultivars move to the fore, the next few years will be crucial. And the owners of those cultivars stand to profit handsomely.

Re-published with the permission of Harris Bricken and The Canna Law Blog

 

Filed Under: Hemp Industry News, Science and Technology Tagged With: Crop Insurance, Epigenetics, genetics, Hemp Farming, strains, USDA’s Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO)

Primary Sidebar

Ad: Sidebar 1

Featured Video

Associations & Organizations

clearing div

Ad: Sidebar 2

Business Directory

Ad: Skyscraper 1

CBE Jobs Exchange


Featured Jobs
Go
Post a Job
More jobs
Powered by CBEJobsExchange.com

RSS Recent Jobs

  • Alcohol and Other Drug Health Promotion Coordinator - Central Washington University - Ellensburg, WA
  • Alcohol and Other Drug Health Promotion Coordinator - Central Washington University - Ellensburg, WA
  • Hearing Officers (Apply by Feb. 5th) - The Broward County Attorney's Office - Fort Lauderdale, FL

Product & Service Press Releases

Ad: Sidebar 3

CBE Events

Ad: Sidebar 4

State Regulatory Agencies

Ad: Skyscraper 2

Webinars

Ad: Sidebar 5

Associations & Organizations

Ad: Sidebar 6

Featured Video

Ad: Skyscraper 3

Business Directory

Ad: Sidebar 7

CBE Jobs Exchange

Ad: Sidebar 8

CBE Events

Ad: Skyscraper 4

Industry Blogs



Footer

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Newsletters
  • Terms of Service
  • Contributor Login
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2

© Copyright 2020 CBE PRESS LLC. - All Rights Reserved. Cannabis Business Executive Is A Trademark Of CBE PRESS LLC. · All Rights Reserved · And Our Sitemap · All Logos & Trademarks Belong To Their Respective Owners·