This document provides an overview of the Wisconsin hemp industry and resources from the University of Wisconsin (UW). It summarizes the results of a UW study on hemp economics and marketing. The study found the top challenges for growers are networking and weather, while for processors it is regulations. Yield and price data is provided for different hemp types. The document outlines UW resources like websites and testing tools. It concludes with recommendations to connect with others, start small, find markets, and work with extension offices.

1. Wisconsin Hemp Overview
&
UW Resources
Liz Binversie
Agriculture Educator
Extension Brown County

2. Name tag instructions
•GREEN = Grower
•BLUE = Buyer
•PURPLE = Processor
•RED = Other
•YELLOW = Sponsor
Use the sticker
dots if you
identify as
more than one
of these
categories

3. Thank you to our Sponsors!

4. I am a
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
85%
10%
13%
0%
41%
8%
0%
21%
15%
1. 1st year grower
2. 2nd year grower
3. 1st year processor
4. 2nd year processor
5. Retailer
6. Consultant
7. Financial lender
8. Education
9. Other

5. What do you feel is the #1 challenge facing
hemp growers?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
20%
18%
12%
10%
20%
8%
12%
1. Weather
2. Regulations
3. Lack of educational
resources
4. Networking
5. Acquiring good seed
6. Labor/Equipment
7. Obtaining financing

6. What do you feel is the #1 challenge facing
hemp processors?
1 2 3 4 5 6
19%
33%
17%
6%
8%
17%
1. Networking
2. Regulations
3. Marketing
4. Obtaining financing
5. Credit card sales
6. Education

7. What do you hope to get out of today’s
meeting
1 2 3 4 5
24%
0%
11%
40%
24%
1. Find a buyer
2. Find a seller
3. Find a processor
4. Learn more
5. Network with others

8. Outline
• Disclaimers
• Overview of 2019 Wisconsin Hemp Industry
• Marketing & Economics study results preliminary summary
• UW Resources

9. Disclaimers
• UW has 0 research
• General recommendations vs. individual consultation
• Young program
• NOT a get rich quick scheme

10. Background
• December 12, 2017 – First emails
• January 3, 2018 – Greenlight for education
• March 2, 2018 – Emergency order
• February 2019 – First hemp meeting
• April 2019 – Satellite webinar
• May 2019 – Local grower meeting
• Aug/Sept 2019 – Speaking at field days

11. Extension’s role
• Provide current, objective, and accurate information
• Unbiased source of information, education, and outreach
• Provide boots on the ground support
• Organize meetings
• Speak at events
• Consult, advise, or recommend where appropriate
• Conduct research: surveys, plot trials, collect crop analysis, etc.

12. Questions
• What is the best way to grow hemp | How do you grow it?
• What can we expect for CBD and THC levels by variety?
• What is the success rate with feminized seed?
• How do I know I’m getting a fair price?
• How do I find a buyer/processor/etc.
• What are nutrient recommendations?
• How do I know when to harvest?
• Should/how often to test for CBD/THC levels?

13. Regulatory
• Industrial hemp legalized grower/processor program in WI – 2018
• Pilot program to study growth, cultivation and marketing of hemp
• Defined as having less than 0.3% THC
• License/registration -Dept. Ag, Trade, Consumer Protection
• Grower: $750-1600+ (one-time license fee, registration, sampling)
• Processor: $100 fee (registration)
• 165 DATCP-approved CBD varieties

14. DATCP Statistics - State
99 82 245 185
1,872
579 675
1,233
2,264
4,000
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
Processor
licenses
Processor
locations
Grower
licenses
Grower
locations
Growing
acres
2018 2019

15. DATCP Statistics – Brown County 2019
16 18 36 69
632
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Processor
licenses
Processor
locations
Grower
licenses
Grower
locations
Growing
acres*

16. Marketing & Economics Survey Research

17. The Study
• Conducted by University of Wisconsin-River Falls (Burney &
Remble) – analytics survey and anecdotal information
• Funded by the Renk Agribusiness Institute at UW-Madison
• Surveyed growers and processors (yield & pricing for 2018)
• Who responded?
• 140 growers and processors
• 108 growing only
• 30 processing and growing
• 2 processing only

18. Top 6 Biggest challenges
1. Networking (finding processor, buyer, grower mentors)
2. Weather
3. Acquiring seed
4. Labor
5. Equipment
6. Financing
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls

19. Economic Variables by Hemp Type
CBD - Floral CBD - Biomass Seed/Grain Fiber
Yield - US
(lbs/acre) 1,100 1,500 1,025 7,788
Prices ($/lb) $61* $28* $0.70 $0.07
Gross
Returns
($/acre)** $67,100 $42,000 $717 $545
*Price of CBD/floral hemp is based on dried matter sold for CBD extraction, assuming 10% CBD per lb.
for floral material and 7% for biomass.
**Returns refer to revenue generated per acre. This is not a "net return," that is, it does not account
for cost of production.
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls

20. 2018 Hemp Yield – WI Survey Data
Hemp type State Avg
yield/acre
Low High
CBD 645 lbs
Grain – Never farmed 250 lbs 700 lbs
Grain – farmers with experience 800 lbs 1,800 lbs
Fiber (National) 2,000 11,000
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls
Industry standard for CBD yield is 1,500-2,000 pounds per acre

21. Cost of Production
Acreage All CBD Hemp Non-CBD
Hemp
<1 (average)* $6,891 $9,261 $3,053
1<=acres<=2 (per acre) $10,519 $10,335 $11,168
2<acre<=10 (per acre) $8,309 $11,598 $2,171
acre>10 (per acre) $4,316 $9,797 $400
*For operations smaller than 1 acre, cost of production is the average of total cost of production of all
Wisconsin growers available in the data
**Non-CBD hemp includes hemp grown for seed, grain, or fiber.
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls

22. Revenue Earned by WI Hemp Growers
Hemp Type 2018
CBD $25,578,581
Seed/Grain $794,319
Fiber $39,361
TOTAL $26,412,261
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls
Estimates are based on revenue generated by raw harvested plant, not from processed products
Also assumes hemp was sold as dried floral material or biomass, not trimmed smokable flower

23. 2018 Hemp value in Wisconsin
CBD Hemp Price/unit
Trimmed smokable flower $200-700 per pound
CBD-rich floral material $61 per pound
Biomass $28 per pound
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls
Wisconsin’s hemp industry generated an estimated $26 million in revenue

24. How do prices compare nationally?
CBD Hemp Price/unit
Crude hemp oil $2,238 per kilogram | $1,017 per pound
Refined hemp oil $5,451 per kilogram | $2,477 per pound
CBD isolate $4,574 per kilogram | $2,079 per pound
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls

25. Key points to the study
• Wide variation in yield, cost, prices, and returns - infancy of industry
• Processing capacity as supply chain bottleneck
• First-time processors may have limited capacity
• This is an area the researchers want to continue studying
Data source: The economics and marketing of industrial hemp in WI. Burney and Remble, 2019. UW-River Falls

26. GROWER QUESTIONS

27. My yield of dried hemp biomass (flower,
leaves, and stalk) falls in the range of
1 2 3 4
0% 0%
50%
50%
1. Less than 800 lbs/acre
2. 800 to 1,200 lbs/acre
3. 1,200 to 1,500 lbs/acre
4. 1,500 to 2,000 lbs/acre

28. My CBD yield per lb. of dried hemp biomass
(flower, leaves, and stalk) falls in the range of
1 2 3 4
0%
50%
0%
50%
1. Less than 5%
2. 5% to 8%
3. 8% to 10%
4. 10% to 15%

29. The price I received per lb. of dried hemp
biomass (flower, leaves, and stalk) for CBD
extraction falls in the range of
1. $1 to $3 per CBD %
2. $3 to $4 per CBD %
3. $4 to $5 per CBD %
4. $5 to $7 per CBD %

30. My yield of dried hemp floral material falls
in the range of
1 2 3 4
75%
0%
0%
25%
1. Less than 800 lbs/acre
2. 800 to 1,200 lbs/acre
3. 1,200 to 1,500 lbs/acre
4. 1,500 to 2,000 lbs/acre

31. My CBD yield per lb. of dried hemp floral
material falls in the range of
1 2 3 4
100%
0%
0%
0%
1. Less than 5%
2. 5% to 8%
3. 8% to 10%
4. 10% to 15%

32. The price I received per lb. of dried hemp
floral material for CBD extraction falls in the
range of
1 2 3 4
0%
50%
50%
0%
1. $1 to $3 per CBD %
2. $3 to $4 per CBD %
3. $4 to $5 per CBD %
4. $5 to $7 per CBD %

33. The research study continues…
• If you would like to respond to the survey, please contact:
Shaheer Burney, PhD
Assistant Professor of Agricultural Business
University of Wisconsin, River Falls
shaheer.burney@uwrf.edu
Amber Remble, PhD
Assistant Professor of Agricultural Business
University of Wisconsin, River Falls
amber.remble@uwrf.edu

34. UW Resources

35. Getting Connected & Learning More
• UW Hemp website
• Directory
• Buyer-seller listing
• Networking
• CBD & THC Test Results Sharing Tool
• Wisconsin Hemp YouTube channel

36. General Recommendations

37. For those who want to grow next year
• Line up your market first
• Start at a manageable level
• Work the process backwards to decide how much to start growing
• Think in terms of per plant, not per acre
• Talk with other growers
• Be cautious
• Know what your risk is
• Consider working with your extension office

38. For current growers
• Check out UW hemp listings
• Settling for a lower price now might be better than nothing later
• Understand your risk
• Find a market for your hemp by October/November
• Use an attorney for any and all legally binding agreements
• If transporting through other states, be careful!
• Test, test, test!
• Consider sharing your testing data
• Consider working with your extension office

39. Processors
• Consider adding your information to the UW Hemp listings
• Be an educational ambassador
• Curb expectations
• Use an attorney for any and all legally binding agreements
• Consider working with your extension office

40. Takeaways
• No infrastructure
• High risk/potential for high reward
• Steep learning curve
• Growers and others very passionate and excited
• Don’t bet the farm on it!

41. Questions?
Liz Binversie
Agriculture Educator
Extension Brown County
920-391-4612
eybinversie@wisc.edu