The relationship between hemp farmers and hemp processors is more significant than you think. It can impact the profitability of an entire crop. It can help farmers succeed in hemp in ways they couldn’t foresee.
Developing and maintaining a relationship with a hemp processor is imperative for farmers, but not all processors are alike. Finding one that’s open and willing to work with you as a true partner is what makes all the difference.
The key component of a farmer/processors relationship
There’s one central component to a good relationship between a farmer and processor — communication. It’s essential these two sides of the hemp growing process talk to each other for many reasons. Conversation should happen often, but it should also happen early enough to really make a difference.
How early should we start talking?
The answer is immediately. As soon as you decide you want to be a hemp farmer, begin a relationship with a hemp processor. They’ll have industry insight you won’t. Passing it on to you can ensure your crop really suits the demands of consumers. Their expertise also helps you, as a farmer, prep correctly. Working together at the start allows you to establish the proper strategy for what you intend to use your hemp crop to manufacture. You’re forced to think through everything before you even begin — how you’ll process your hemp for sale and when and how you’ll harvest it. Without this plan, farmers can end up with hemp nobody wants to buy because the CBD or CBG levels aren’t right, or the THC percentage is too high.
An early conversation with a processor also gets you queued up for processing. With limited capacity, each processor can only dry, store, and extract CBD or CBG oil from a set amount of hemp. If you wait too long to begin your conversation, you can miss your window and be without anyone to process your hemp. Being forced to let it sit and wait, without proper storage, can lead to many problems. You can end up with mold or mildew. Your CBD or CBG percentage can even decrease to a point that makes your plants unusable.
What do we talk about?
You talk about everything. A knowledgeable processor can even help you select the right genetics for your seeds. This ensures you have a crop consumers want and that processors can sell. Because processors do more than just extract oil from hemp, they have a wider set of knowledge that can help you as a farmer. Often involved in the drying step, a processor can advise you how best to harvest your crop to keep your hemp in its best possible state.
The main part of a farmer’s job, when growing hemp, is caring for their crop. Having an in-depth conversation with a processor can help you have a crop with the ideal CBD or CBG yield. It also means the processor won’t pass on your crop after harvest, leaving you to scramble for an alternative.
The farmer/processor relationship is mutually beneficial
A good relationship between a processor and a farmer means both sides have to put in the effort to communicate. Processors share exactly what strains are in demand, and farmers manage their crop to produce the ideal CBD/CBG yield. In the end, both sides have a product they can sell. Farmers are selling their biomass. Processors are selling extracted hemp oil. In this way, everyone is able to grow and scale their business together. One side wouldn’t succeed as highly without the other.
The perfect farmer/processor relationship
When a processor can advise a hemp farmer the whole way through, a perfect relationship begins to form. Farmers should find a processor they can interact with as if it’s all one company. The success of each side should feel intertwined. In a perfect relationship, between a farmer and a processor, everyone is looking out for everyone else.
When this type of relationship doesn’t occur, problems arise. Farmers can end up producing good-quality hemp that goes un-purchased because it’s not what consumers want. Processors end up without usable inventory to sell and make their own profit as well.
Avoid a hemp fail with a good processor
Failure in hemp is costly and rough. It’s serious in this industry, which is why the professional relationships you form are so important. Not all processors want to go the distance. They don’t all value open and frequent communication. They don’t all turn to their farmers and ask, “How can I help?” At Arbor Vita8, we pride ourselves on establishing long-term partnerships with our hemp farmers. From seed to sale, we’re willing to share our knowledge and expertise in addition to our extensive list of services. Contact us today to learn more.
