In the last three years, interest in industrial hemp production has exploded across the US. One of the consequences of the hype surrounding industrial hemp production is that people new to agriculture, representing diverse demographics, have been drawn to the industry.
As a result, many industrial hemp growers have a limited background in agricultural production, contracting, and the use of crop insurance products. As such, this project seeks to address two major concerns that are influencing the development of the industrial hemp industry.
First, our legal team will develop producer/processor contract templates for three types of industrial hemp production (CBD/extract, fiber, and seed).
The second component is to provide producer education on the three available crop insurance products for industrial hemp - Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP), the pilot program for Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI), and Non-insured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).
The intersection of these two project components is the requirement of a contract with a processor for a producer to participate in certain crop insurance programs. The overall objective of our project is to provide industrial hemp producers, crop insurance agents, and processors with contracting and crop insurance information and resources to assist with mitigating production, financial, and marketing risk.
