The market is ripe for a vertically integrated approach. Unlike conventional agricultural products that need to get into grocery stores, CBD offers a unique opportunity to bypass wholesalers, brokers and retailers by selling direct to consumers at full retail online. Most CBD sales today take place online, anyway. Furthermore, CBD products are nonperishable and shelf stable, enabling long-term storage to convert a seasonal crop into year round easy to ship sales.
Farmers need to cooperate to protect their own interests. The hemp market is dominated by bad actors and farmers are getting screwed. All organizations in hemp started with suitcases of cash since banks won’t touch it, which attracts bad actors. This year, it is estimated that over half of farms won’t be able to sell their crop at all. Most clones and seeds out there are unregulated and bad, either poor performing or go “hot”.
FPS is working with CHAMP, CDA, and CSU to establish Certified varieties of hemp. Bill was chair of the Certified Clone Committee of CHAMP and certification of safe varieties was the number one issue. For more on this, see Appendix A.
Not only can we work to protect the integrity of our inputs and quality of the crops we grow through certification, we can work together to capture a unique niche in the market in ways that generate 10x revenues for farmers, through cooperatively owned vertical integration.