On Monday, the USDA approved hemp regulatory plans for Texas, Nebraska, Delaware, and four new Indian tribes. This is great news for farmers in all jurisdictions, and Texas in particular is buzzing with the news. Texas already leads the nation in agriculture, covering over 127 million acres and close to 250,000 farms producing everything from cattle to cotton. Now, it’s poised to become a leader in hemp production, and the State is all in.

The Texas Department of Agriculture, led by Commissioner Sid Miller is working hard to get its licensing program up and running and all rules approved so farmers can get to work. Regulatory concerns aren’t the only challenges farmers will have in year one however. There are a number of risks tied to growing hemp and Texas, along with all other approved jurisdictions, have an opportunity to learn from other failures. Early adopters to hemp have seen massive crop losses, issues with genetics, distribution and processing shortages, and challenges with scale. 

Each of the approved jurisdictions has a chance to support its farming community by navigating not just regulatory concerns but these production concerns as well. Farmers are going to have a steep hill to climb, trying to ensure compliance with all rules and regulations, properly executing R&D, creating scalable standard operating procedures, protecting IP, managing labor resources, figuring out production efficiencies, managing climate, disease, and pests, maintaining safe product supply chains, and much more. Agriculture is one of the most challenging markets to be successful in, hands down, and hemp is no different. Managing risk is a lot for any grower and without precise execution, the potential of failure increases exponentially.

Artemis is proud to work with some of the largest hemp producers in the United States and wants to see all hemp farmers success. We’re committed to Texas farmers and we’ve got skin in the game. Our Global Head of Industry, Travis Merchant is based in Austin. He has helped lobby and work with respected industry organizations in Texas, and we have the expertise and tools to help mitigate these risks and make more profitable business decisions. In addition, we’ve been working with hemp farmers across the United States to develop a few new features to help with regulatory compliance as well as operational management. We’re excited about what’s coming in Texas and all across the United States and we’re excited to reveal some of our new product offerings. If you’d like to see what’s coming, Travis will be at the Texas Hemp Convention in Dallas this week. You can email him to set up some time to meet: travis@artemisag.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.Â