Farmers searching for a new cash crop to grow in the post-tobacco era are still eager to try growing hemp, but the economics of successful hemp production need further study to provide them with the information to be successful, according to Obed Quaicoe, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education.
A three-year, $500,000 grant from USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative to study the economics of hemp production could provide advice that has been missing from the fledgling field.
“The problem is that farmers are getting into something new without having a full understanding of the economic viabilities and risks associated with it,” Quaicoe said. “Hemp still has the potential to turn profits for N.C. farmers experiencing market failure, but growers need to be informed about the dynamics of the business.”
According to the N.C. Industrial Hemp Commission, the state had 1,521 licensed growers and 1,183 registered processors in the state as of December 2020, but data on their profitability is hard to find. Due in part to the field’s newness – hemp production has only been allowed since the 2018 Farm Bill – a long-term economic study has not been done, Quaicoe said.
“The hype and unfounded predictions about profitability have overtaken the usual approach of research and extensive testing over many years to develop good production practices that farmers can follow to make it a profitable agribusiness,” Quaicoe said. “The economic uncertainties and the lack of tested production practices constitute a complex and critical sustainability problem. The current market is not strong enough to handle increased production capacity, and if the trend continues, farmers could potentially lose a great deal of money.”
Quaicoe and his collaborators on the grant – Professor Omoanghe Isikhuemhen, Ph.D., and Research Specialist Felicia Anike in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design; and Associate Professor Fafanyo Asiseh, Ph.D., in the Department of Economics – will take a “holistic” approach to providing growers with profitability and risk information, drawing on the diverse disciplines of the team, Quaicoe said.
“Using only information based on agronomic research to incentivize farmers to go into hemp production is very misleading,” he said. “We need a more holistic, research-driven approach that includes production inputs, post-harvest processing, supply chain management and a legal framework to guide production and marketing.”
Isikhuemhen’s role in the project will be to examine the diseases commonly affecting hemp and to start providing small farmers with strategies to mitigate them.
“The first step is for small farmers to be informed about the economics so that they can make an informed decision to go ahead or not. If they do go ahead, then we need to provide guidance about what to do,” Isikhuemhen said.
“One of their questions will be, ‘What diseases will I encounter?’ Information about disease management will help small farmers navigate hemp cultivation.”
The team’s next steps will be to meet with stakeholders to get an accurate picture of hemp production statewide.
“This project will not immediately solve growers’ problems; rather, its goal is to generate data so that we can understand the economics of hemp production and provide farmers with ways to reduce their risks and be profitable and sustainable,” Quaicoe said.
