This week on the hemp podcast we talk to Seth Boone, vice president of business development at PanXchange, a Colorado-based market structures solutions company and a leading benchmark price provider and analyst in the hemp industry.

PanXchange also facilitates a trade platform, which Boone sees becoming “a central marketplace for the main products in hemp — fiber and grain, as well as cannabinoids,” he said.

Boone is the lead author of an in-depth report titled US Industrial Hemp Fiber: Processor Capacity and Margins, which provides an overview of the domestic market, including supply and demand figures, anticipated trends, and a competitive landscape with price comparisons of incumbent materials.

Published in December 2022, the report showcases the significant growth of hemp fiber industry in the few short years since the 2018 Farm Bill brought hemp back into the fold of industrial crops.

Boone said there is tremendous opportunity on fiber side, which “lead us into doing that report, as well as just what we are seeing emerging in the U.S. in the fiber industry,” he said. “It seems like there's so many people really waiting on green lights to come in and tackle this industry.”

What are those green lights?

“Everyone's waiting on a supply chain to be built, Boone said. “And this year would be the first year that we had significant decortication capacity.”

Processing capacity in the U.S. has been scant, with only a handful of facilities in operation.

“Maybe five processors that have been working on proof of concept,” he said, but this year those five processors are ready for scale production and have plans to plant the acreage necessary.

And right at their heels are another “twenty or so processors that are scaling into that right now and over the next five years,” he said.

But what’s missing, he said, are second and third tier processing levels, like spinning, roving, carding and cottonization, a process that adapts hemp fibers so they can be blended with cotton and wool fibers.

Boone sees 2023 as a pivotal time for the industry as processing capacity starts to scale.

“This will be the first year that there's really an opportunity to have supply to work with in the U.S.,” he said.

For Boone, that’s one of the reasons PanXchange published the report in the first place:

“Honestly, we really kind of need to show them that the green light is there,” said Boone.

PanXchange https://panxchange.com/ US Industrial Hemp Fiber: Processor Capacity and Margins The following link will give you 5% off purchase price simply for being a loyal listener to our podcast: https://panxchange.com/purchase-us-industrial-hemp-fiber-processor-capacity-and-margins-lancaster/ News Nuggets or Calendar Items, You Decide Wisconsin Cannabis Industry and Policy Summit February 15, 2023 https://www.indigenouscannabis.org/wisconsin-cannabis-summit Virtual 2023 Vermont Industrial Hemp Conference February 23, 2023 https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2023%20Events/Industrial%20Hemp%20Conf/2023_HempConf_Brochure.pdf Illinois Department of Ag Hemp Summit March 15, 2023 Save the date. Fingers crossed, more info to come.

Illinois Dept of Ag https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/agr/Plants/Pages/Industrial-Hemp.aspx

Send the Illinois Department of Agriculture an email asking about the event. Seriously it's like 5 weeks away and there's absolutely no information online about it. And if no one shows up, they'll scratch their government heads as to why it was so poorly attended. Sorry, Illinois, I don't mean to be so passive aggressive towards your Department of Ag. It's just that there are actual and concrete things they can do as a department to show they support the industry and are taking hemp seriously, one of which is promoting their own event. https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/agr/About/Pages/ContactUs.aspx For More information about growing hemp in the Land of Lincoln, contact: Illinois Hemp Growers Association https://www.illinoishga.com/ Virtual Nebraska Hemp Conference and Trade ShowSorry, I forgot to mention this one on the show, but it's coming up soon too. March 25-26, 2023 https://www.bionebraska.org/nebraska-hemp-conference-and-trade-show/ Noco Hemp Expo March 29-21, 2023 Colorado Springs, CO https://www.nocohempexpo.com/ Thanks to our sponsors IND HEMP https://indhemp.com/ King's Agriseeds https://kingsagriseeds.com/