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Since it first became legal to produce hemp in Idaho, in 2022, acres have more than doubled each year, from 459 in 2022 to 1,274 in 2023 to 2,668 in 2024.
That’s not exactly an explosion of acreage but it does show that the crop has gained a small foothold in Idaho and some farmers are starting to figure out the agronomics and economics of growing hemp.
“We’ve successfully demonstrated that Idaho is an ideal state for growing industrial hemp,” said Roberts hemp grower Triston Sponseller, who also owns Idaho Hemp Processing in Rexburg. “Industrial hemp fiber has a massive potential in Idaho.”
He said the state “has both an ideal climate and soil structure” for growing hemp. “We see it as a very viable crop; just as viable as … any other crop we grow here in Idaho. We’re excited about it.”
Idaho farmers each year grow far more acres of some other crops, including potatoes (about 300,000 acres per year), barley (about 540,000), wheat (1.2 million), hay (1.2 million), corn (350,000) and sugar beets (170,000).
For now, hemp can be considered a burgeoning crop in Idaho, but there are a handful of farmers and processors that are starting to figure it out.
Many of them were part of a special hemp presentation before the House Agricultural Affairs Committee Feb. 6.
Braden Jensen, director of governmental affairs for Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, described the presentation to lawmakers as an informational update on the state’s hemp industry.
Industrial hemp products have always been sold legally in the United States but not until the 2018 farm bill was passed was it legal to grow and process hemp commercially in the U.S.
The hemp products sold in the U.S. previously came from other countries.
While the farm bill made it legal to produce industrial hemp, the federal government left it up to individual states to approve their own hemp plans that adhered to federal guidelines.
According to experts, it is impossible to get high from industrial hemp.
It took several attempts before Idaho legislators were ready to approve a hemp plan they were comfortable with and Idaho was the last state to approve one.
Jensen was one of the people involved in helping craft the bill that enabled Idaho to become the 50th state in the nation to allow the production of industrial hemp.
“It took a while for us to figure out what would work, but we did it an Idaho way that I think has threaded the needle to make sure that we have a very strong stance when it comes to our (state drug) policy … but that we also allow Idaho producers to take advantage of this new and emerging sector of the industry,” he told lawmakers Feb. 6.
According to federal regulation, a farmer is not found in violation of the law if his industrial hemp does not exceed 1 percent of THC, the psychoactive compound that gets a user of marijuana high. Idaho’s hemp program, however, sets that THC limit at 0.3 percent.
Idaho’s hemp plan allows for people to grow and process industrial hemp if they obtain a license from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, a process that includes a background check. People can also transport it on behalf of someone with a license.
Under Idaho’s hemp plan, once a hemp product leaves the door of a processing facility, it can contain no THC at all. The farm bill does not cover processing at all.
So, unless you are a licensed hemp farmer or handler, no one in the state should handle a hemp product that contains any THC at all.
“Those are the strictest hemp standards in the entire country,” said ISDA Director Chanel Tewalt.
Farmers and others involved with the processing of hemp told House ag committee members they are happy with how the ISDA handles the program.
However, they also said hemp’s future in Idaho could go a little smoother with some changes in Idaho’s hemp plan.
That would include considering raising the allowed THC limit in Idaho closer to the federal limit, said Mattie Mead, owner and founder of Idaho-based Hempitecture, which uses industrial hemp to create high-performance building materials such as insulation.
Every planted hemp lot in Idaho has to be inspected at least once. If a plant in a hemp lot in Idaho tests higher than 0.3 percent for THC, it is flagged as a violation.
If there is a compliance issue, a grower can opt to try certain remediation efforts and ISDA inspectors will inspect the hemp again once those efforts are undertaken.
However, if remediation fails, all the hemp plants in that lot that tested hot for THC have to be destroyed, at the grower’s cost.
“No hemp ever leaves a farm in Idaho until they get an acceptable result in THC,” Tewalt said.
She added that Idaho farmers have done a great job in complying with the state’s hemp rules.
“We have great, great compliance with the customers we work with,” Tewalt said.
The risk involved in growing hemp and the potential that the crop might have to be destroyed is high and raising the allowable THC limit in Idaho is something that should be considered, Mead said.
“Industrial hemp is incredibly risky when you consider that .3 percent of THC can result in your crop getting destroyed,” he said.
He said if Idaho’s limit was increased closer to the federal limit of 1 percent, it would still be under, by a massive magnitude, anything that can be considered a social threat.
“I think we really need to put our farmers first here,” he said. “When we think about THC levels, it’s really about putting farmers first. Putting farmers first in industrial hemp means providing them the latitude to successfully monetize a crop that poses no health or social risk in terms of the THC quantity.”
Mead also suggested Idaho could help support more hemp infrastructure, as well as hemp research.
In 2024, Hempitecture purchased and converted almost a million pounds of hemp fiber. About 42 percent of that hemp was grown in Idaho.
In 2023, Hempitecture sourced almost all of its hemp from Montana and Canada.
What changed?
Sponseller’s Idaho Hemp Processing facility in Rexburg, Mead said.
“His facility single-handedly has created the opportunity for Idaho farmers to create an agricultural commodity that Hempitecture can buy, utilize and convert into a high-performance building material,” he said.
Sponseller estimates that about 90 percent of the hemp acres grown in Idaho in 2024 were grown for Idaho Hemp Processing.
“From a hemp processing perspective, we really have no complaints,” he said. “It’s been smooth running. The program’s been done well. We can’t thank the ISDA enough. They’ve been phenomenal to work with.”
The growing part, he added, has been somewhat of a learning curve as far as growing the crop while staying in compliance with the hemp plan’s rules.
“It hasn’t necessarily been difficult, but it’s been a learning curve,” Sponseller said.
He also suggested the state take a close look at possibly raising the THC limit.
“The most important thing we need to address, soon, is the (THC limit),” he said.
Travis McAffee told lawmakers that he was the first producer in the small farming community of Howe to try hemp and it got some attention.
He said farmers in that area are limited in what they can grow, so when Sponseller’s hemp facility in Rexburg opened 60 miles away, he thought, “Here’s another tool that maybe we can use in our farm. With small farms, you have to jump at every chance you can get.”
Shortly after he first planted hemp, it looked like there were just a bunch of weeds in the field and he doubted it would amount to anything.
“For a whole month, it’s sitting at about 4 inches tall and you’re like, maybe this isn’t going to grow in our area; maybe we’re too cold,” McAffee said. “Well then July hit and it grew a foot a day. Then our neighbors would come and go, ‘Hey, maybe this is a crop we can grow in this area.’”
“It’s very tiny seed,” he adds. “And then all of a sudden, you look at your crop and it’s 14-foot tall. It’s kind of exciting.”
Besides the curiosity from town folk, area farmers were also interested in the hemp crop and asked McAffee to let them know when he was ready to cut it.
“Well, there’s about 31 farmers in Howe and we had 30 of them there when the chopper showed up,” he said.
Sponseller said his hemp uses less water than a barley crop and he’s finding it helps with reduced fertilizer usage for subsequent crops and healthier soil profiles.
Mead said his company is involved with a research project being administered by Oregon State University that is looking at industrial hemp as a rotational tool in potato cropping systems.
House Agricultural Affairs Committee Chairman Kevin Andrus thanked those who presented during the hemp update.
“This is very informative; very interesting,” he said. “Thank you everybody that helped get this (industry) started.”
“}]] Since it first became legal to produce hemp in Idaho, in 2022, acres have more than doubled each year, from 459 in 2022 to 1,274 in 2023 to 2,668 in 2024. Read More
