A Novel way of thinking about Industrial Cannabis
Updated: Dec 13, 2020
Let's review the last 587 days [days that have elapsed since December 20, 2018, aka when Donald Trump signed the Farm Bill]
Licensed total hemp acreage has reached 465,787 acres for the 2020 production season, with 47 state departments of agriculture reporting numbers to Hemp Industry Daily. This is compared to 511,442 total licensed acres of hemp across 34 states in 2019 or a 9% decrease.
Licensed indoor production accounts for 93,666,091 square feet or 2,150 acres (information provided by 27 states that have supporting data).
States licensed a total of 21,496 growers, a 27% increase compared to the 16,877 farmers and researchers licensed in 34 states in 2019, according to Vote Hemp. The number of growers licensed for 2019 showed a 476% increase over 2018.
States that track and require PROCESSOR LICENCES (aka Extractors) have granted 4,485 Processor-Handlers Licenses. However, several states said they don’t require licenses for processors, so there is much greater processing capacity within the U.S. that is currently unaccounted for.
The FDA continues to wrestle with "the intrinsic safety of CBD" concerning the "potentially unsafe manufacturing processes" for products containing CBD.
So what does this data shown mean to you and your business [assuming you're directly involved with the Industrial Cannabis Industry]
Of the 4,485 extractors/processors, there are 465,787 licensed acres of hemp to work with. Or, about 103 acres of hemp per extractor processor - kind of throws that whole argument "there arent any extractors" right out the window [but we will save that #fakenews for a different blog post]
An average acre of Industrial Hemp/Cannabis will produce between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds of CBD quality material. First, let us agree that we will use 1,500 lb. of CBD producing Industrial Hemp/Cannabis as an average. So, 465,787 licensed acres x 1,500 lb = 698,680,500 pounds of Industrial Hemp. That's a staggering number.
698,680,500 pounds of CBD Industrial Cannabis/hemp equates to about 317,200,947 Kilos [for you non-US Standard Types aka the rest of the world reading this blog post] which when extracted for an average of [let's just agree here for the sake of numbers] 10% CBD yield. When extracted using sub-par extraction methods, that 317 million kilograms of Biomass equal about 30+ million kilograms of raw cannabinoid-rich CBD oil. Before you jump for that really high horse, there are too many variables to list here, including variations on total-cannabinoids, efficiencies of the extraction method, scientific method, etc. - so please recognize, that I am just trying to keep the math simple. But, I'm willing to oblige your expertise and say, 20 million kilograms of output (or 20,000,000 kg for you visual types).
20,000,000 KILOGRAMS (or 44,092,452.44 lbs. for you US Standard lovers).
My question to you, how many grams [not kilograms] does your brand require?
One kilogram of high-quality Cannabinoid-Rich full-spectrum CBD active oil [thats a lot to put into one small sentence] can theoretically make 1,000+ units of 1,000mg product.
so technically, just for laughs, there is potential for 20 BILLION 1,000mg dosed products just being produced in the US alone!
Currently, 77% of the US population is 18+, or 247,122,998 US Citizens that are above the legal age to ingest CBD products. So, if all 247,122,998 people bought a 1,000mg dosage, once a month, that is 2,965,475,976 units that can be sold - that seems like a LOT of product to push, even for the best "Extractor" / "SEO & Social Media Guru" to handle.
Can we agree that the production of US Industrial Hemp might just be OUTPACING the US consumption rate? Let me state clearly for the record...
"I am a Hempster, 100% through and through and I have dedicated my life to this incredible plant!"
In my line of work, I have to look at facts, facts that are backed by data, but I also realize [and to the reader who is chomping at the bit to finish this post so s/he can throw a statistic at me] data is unique to our ability to accept it for a fact - I often think of a "half dozen" or "12", as in, we can find whatever data or statistics that we want, especially if we have an agenda that we want to push. So, when I am looking at potential investors or gauging production values, or sitting down with my board, I like to think of both the best and worst-case scenarios.
To quote one of my mentors James-Scott [whever he realizes that I need to refocus]:
"What do you OWN? What do you CONTROL? What do you INFLUENCE?
I OWN the ability to produce cannabinoid-rich products that help to change people's lives for the better.
I can CONTROL what my customers depend on to produce for them, as well as the information required to better understand what they may or may not need.
I have the ability to INFLUENCE how our employees interact, educate, and create a better understanding of our brand and I can do this by understanding the customer's [internal and external] needs.
Some of you may be thinking that I just went on a diatribe towards the Industrial Cannabis movement, others, well, others know that when I talk about this incredible industry, I try not to operate from Cannabis 1.0 mindset [that of CANNABIS IS THE GREATEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO HUMANS]. I believe that cannabinoids heal, I believe that selling cannabis ideology on the grounds that everyone has glaucoma is wrong, and I do firmly believe that cannabis intake can negatively affect individuals that suffer from addictive tendencies, but cannabinoids DO INFACT HEAL, and they are capable of directly impacting someone's life for the positive, and that is why we [FS-Origins] are focused on healing the body by way of the Endocannabinoid System (ECS).
Aaron Furman, Founder of FS-Origins