Only five years ago Kevin Ortenblad was growing hydroponic lettuce indoors, near New London, Minnesota. The arugula, romaine, and iceberg greens he produced were some of the most flavorful to be found, according to the grocery stores who bought them.
However, there was a growing problem. Supermarkets simply couldn’t pay enough to satisfy Ortenblad’s bottom line. Despite having a superior product, he couldn’t compete with large operations with lower overhead. However, he had set up a sophisticated indoor growing facility where nutrients, temperature and light were all computer-controlled.
How could he shift to best maximize this asset?
Like many people, Ortenblad had taken note of the surge of interest in growing hemp to produce CBD oil, in particular — but also grain, seed and fiber. The 2018 farm bill made it legal for farmers to grow industrial hemp, a close cousin of marijuana. Because of the association with pot, growing hemp had technically been outlawed in the U.S. since the 1930s.
The farm bill change created a rush to produce hemp, primarily for CBD oil, in 2019. There were about 78,000 acres of hemp grown in 2018 because a number of states had already legalized it. The next year with the federal blessing, that acreage jumped to more than 500,000 acres as demand spiked, creating high prices for all things hemp.
Ortenblad became a part of that rush, opting to grow hemp indoors for the seed that he could then sell to other hemp growers.
“I had the ability to produce 10 million seeds annually,” said Ortenblad, who noted that highly valued hemp seeds for CBD production were selling for as much as $5 per seed in 2019. “By the time I was established growing hemp, the seed price was a dollar, then it went to 50 cents, and if I could get a dime for it now, I would have taken it.”
The overproduction led to plummeting prices. In early 2019 a liter of CBD oil (slightly more than one quart) was worth about $7,000, and a grower who could produce 25 liters on one acre could gross $175,000. By the end of 2019 a liter of CBD oil was worth as little as $300 per liter — a cataclysmic 95% drop in price.
Many hemp growers left the business, but others didn’t, opting instead to mine the hemp plant and the new glut of CBD oil for lab-created variations that could be beneficial to health or contribute to a feeling of well-being, or even a high. The oversupply led to the proliferation of additional hemp-derived products such as CBN, CBG, Delta 8, Delta 9 and Delta 10.
Hemp and marijuana plants may contain more than 100 cannabinoid compounds, the best known and most prevalent of which are THC and CBD. It is THC, or Delta 9, that gives marijuana users a high. In a hemp plant, THC levels have to be below 0.3%, otherwise it is considered marijuana.
While the farm bill legalized growing industrial hemp, there was no corresponding regulation of all the products by the FDA that have been — and are — being created from the plant. There still isn’t.
“This is a game of whack-a-mole,” said Daniele Piomelli, a neuroscientist and pharmacologist and the Director of the Center for the Study of Cannabis at the University of California, Irvine. “Every new product such as Delta 8 or Delta 10 creates uncertainty. The most rational way of dealing with this is federal legalization of cannabis [both marijuana and hemp-derived products],” he said. “We know the risks and benefits. Keeping it illegal creates more unknown risks.”
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His sentiments are echoed by Erica Stark, the executive director of the National Hemp Association. “There are more than 100 cannabinoids, and it is likely that many of them will be useful in some way. We can’t go through this every time a new cannabinoid hits the market.”
Even the FDA seemed to throw in the towel more than a year ago. In a statement released a year ago, the agency said the frameworks it uses for food and supplements “are not appropriate" for cannabidiol. “A new regulatory pathway would benefit consumers by providing safeguards and oversight to manage and minimize risks related to CBD products,” said then-principal deputy commissioner Janet Woodcock.
According to Stark, lawmakers need to step up. “Congress should pass legislation to give FDA the framework to regulate the cannabinoid side of the industry,” she said. “If we’re going to see industrial hemp meet its potential as a sustainable, climate-smart commodity we have to treat it like any row crop.”
Erica Stark, National Hemp AssociationAnd while the topic right now is cannabinoids derived from hemp, industrial hemp itself also has a future as a source of fiber and as food with its grain.
Federal regulations would mean the FDA would create standards for the processing and manufacture of hemp-derived products. Risks, according to Piomelli, come from the uneven processing and production of various hemp-derived cannabinoids using solvents and then processes to get rid of the solvents.
But Piomelli said he believes the FDA may not be up to the job. “They don’t’ have the wherewithal and the resources to do such work … so we’re stuck with products of uncertain quality," he said.
The products themselves, as well the processes involved, can cause concern. Anecdotes have proliferated about young people having adverse reactions to hemp-derived Delta 8, 9, or 10. Piomelli himself believes that research indicates that adolescent brains can be harmed by cannabis use in general—even though use as an adult doesn’t reflect the same kind of damage. Likewise, pregnant women shouldn’t use cannabinoids.
Regulation, according to Piomelli and Stark, could be similar to that for alcohol, in that minors are prohibited from purchasing or using them.
Overall, according to Piomelli, cannabinoids are less damaging to health and society than cigarettes and alcohol. Several drugs are already legal that use CBD to help with epileptic seizures. There are also indications that conditions such as schizophrenia can be helped by CBD. Many people believe the use of CBD, Delta 8, and others have helped with their pain, anxiety, and insomnia.
In the meantime, Kevin Ortenblad continues to grow hemp indoors, but not for the seeds. The nosedive in prices caused him to switch to growing different varieties of the plant that produce numerous buds and flowers with an abundance of the cannabinoid, CBG. It is those flowers, picked and dried, that he ships around the country to retailers whose buyers generally grind and smoke them.
Ortenblad expects Minnesota to legalize recreational marijuana use in 2025. “I’m leaning toward growing marijuana when it becomes legal,” he says. “But I’m not thinking about it in terms of everyone getting high. I want to be a steady supplier of a consistent product that can be used in formulations for medicinal uses, like cancer treatments.”
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