Illinois Reports First-Year Hemp Production Totals
Of 651 licenses granted, 514 planted at least one acre
Illinois farmers produced 2.3 million pounds (1 million kilograms) of industrial hemp in the first year of legal cultivation in decades, state officials said.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture began issuing hemp-production permits last spring after production was legalized. Of 651 licenses granted, 514 planted at least one acre. Nearly three-quarters of the acreage planted was harvested.
“The department has been diligently working to open markets for growers to sell their hemp,” Agriculture director Jerry Costello said. “We recently developed a policy allowing licensed hemp growers to sell product to licensed cannabis cultivators for use in medical and adult-use cannabis products.”
Harvest numbers included biomass, flower, seed and stalk. There were 1.6 million pounds (725,709 kilograms) of biomass and 595,000 pounds (270,000 kilograms) of flower harvested. Those are the hemp products typically used for CBD oil, stalks for industrial use and seed to be planted or used for hemp seed oil.
