We recently hosted the team from Royal 4 Systems, who discussed modern software capabilities for your hemp business. The company’s July 29 webinar was the latest in a new program that we’re running here at Hemp Grower.

Of course, the ongoing work-from-home situation for many has led to an increase in Zoom meeting and virtual events. Over at our sister publication, Cannabis Business Times, we’ve been running webinars for years. We’re pleased to bring our experience in the space and our adaptive digital abilities to HG this year.

“Recognizing efficiency and modernization of your cannabis operation is the difference between low profit margins and higher sales in addition to prioritizing your immediate needs, minimizing cost and identify future requirements so you can “start small and grow big,’” Gus Mavritsakis, cannabis logistics and compliance specialist at Royal 4 Systems, said.

Watch the Royal 4 webinar here. 

Earlier this year, we brought Big Sur Scientific founder Brian Smith onto our webinar platform. He discussed the importance of in-house testing ahead of harvest. How can you know whether your crop is tilting toward (or past) the 0.3% THC threshold? It’s vital to know what you’re working with before the state testing agency arrives.

Watch the Big Sur webinar here. 

Which topics would you like to see HG cover in this format? Send an email to digital editor Eric Sandy at esandy@gie.net with your thoughts.

We’ve got more webinars coming your way, so keep an eye out for promotions and registration information on our social media channels and on the HG website.

Nearly half a year into the novel coronavirus’s widespread arrival into the U.S., the cannabidiol (CBD) industry is gaining a clearer view of how the pandemic has affected operations.

While regular CBD consumers have increased their consumption, smaller companies have experienced a “significant extinction event” propelled by the coronavirus, according to Brightfield Group’s new report, “Navigating Seismic Shifts: July 2020 CBD Report.”

Though an estimated hundreds of CBD brands have closed, with more likely to come as the year rolls on, Virginia Lee, the CBD Research Manager for Brightfield Group, says the coronavirus has brought out a bright spot in terms of consumer consumption.

“For daily users of CBD, they understand the benefits of CBD, they’ve incorporated it into their daily wellness routine, and [now], they’re using CBD more frequently,” Lee points out.

RELATED: CBD and COVID-19 Part 1: How Sales Are Trending

Consumer Behavior

With the coronavirus has come a mass move to digital on several fronts, from sales to events. According to the Brightfield report, nearly half (45%) of CBD consumers surveyed in June have moved their CBD purchases to online because of the coronavirus. Additionally, online CBD purchasing overall increased by 61% from Q1 to Q2 of 2020.

Consumers’ usage and spending on CBD products has also increased during this time. Of all CBD users surveyed in Q2 of 2020, nearly half indicated they’ve used CBD for more than one year. From Q1 to Q2 of 2020, this number increased by 13%. 

The amount of consumers who report using CBD on a daily basis also increased by 6% from Q1 to Q2, according to the report. “As time goes on, consumers become more experienced CBD users,” the report concludes, building a more loyal consumer base.

Lee adds that the coronavirus pandemic appears to have contributed to consumers’ uptick in CBD use. In a consumer survey taken in June, Lee says 39% of CBD consumers indicated they’re using CBD more frequently as a result of COVID-19.

Consumer product preferences have also shifted, as edible products saw a significant leap this year. According to the report, 88% more CBD consumers used CBD gummies and candy in Q2 than Q1. Also in that time period, five times more consumers reported using other edibles, such as baked goods and beverages (from 2% to 10%.)

“I would say gummies have really taken off because they’re such a friendly and easy-to-use format,” Lee says, adding that tinctures, while one of the first CBD formats available to consumers, can be a “foreign concept to many.” 

“You’re dealing with a messy bottle, whereas with gummies, they’re tasty and have pre-measured portions,” Lee says.

Business Challenges

Despite CBD consumption on the rise, Brightfield estimates that hundreds of smaller CBD brands have shuttered this year.

Lee says COVID-19 accelerated the process, but an overcrowded marketplace and plummeting hemp biomass prices set the stage for the “significant extinction event” that is likely to continue through the rest of the year.

“I would say that by the end of the year, we’re going to see a lot of CBD companies close,” Lee says. 

While online sales are booming, the pandemic has resulted in a steep decline in sales at brick-and-mortar locations.

Additionally, all in-person events that smaller brands relied on to market their products, from local farmers markets to national trade expos, have been canceled or postponed due to the pandemic.

“It’s really hard for companies to get the attention of retailers, as small and large trade shows have gotten canceled,” Lee says. “This is definitely going to make it harder for small brands to compete, as big companies like Charlotte’s Web and Medterra already have long-standing relationships with retailers, so it’s easier for them to add more products to the line and have a store carry it than for totally new companies to introduce themselves to a CVS or Walgreens.”

According to the report, the CBD companies that are most likely to be successful throughout the pandemic have:

• A strong e-commerce presence.

• A well-recognized brand.

• A small digital marketing strategy.

• An extensive direct-to-consumer (DTC) presence through blogs, an easy-to-navigate website, newsletters and social media.

“What’s hurting these smaller brands is for companies that didn’t have a strong DTC presence and were undercapitalized to begin with, it’s hard to suddenly shift,” Lee says.

Some brands have also found that rolling out new products has paid off in increasing brand awareness and sales. While many consumer packaged goods companies are focusing on core brands rather than creating new products to “streamline supply chains and reduce complexity in the uncertain environment,” the report says, CBD companies with new products are drawing in new consumers and keeping existing ones interested in the industry.

Major innovations include adding minor cannabinoids, such as cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabinol (CBN) to products, as well as immunity support ingredients, such as elderberry, echinacea and vitamin C, the report says.

Overall, the CBD arena will likely continue to be challenging to navigate throughout the pandemic, especially for smaller brands or those seeking to break into the industry.

”New CBD companies will find it difficult to enter retail channels as in-person sales calls have been paused and major trade shows such as Natural Products Expo West and NoCo Hemp Expo have been canceled,” the report concludes. “Brands prioritizing retail penetration will need to reevaluate as online channels grow stronger.

Lexington, Ky. (May 20, 2020) -PRESS RELEASE- The U.S. Hemp Authority, a hemp industry initiative to promote standards and self-regulation for growers, processors and product manufacturers, announced the addition of Amber Littlejohn to its board of directors.

Littlejohn is a policy attorney and natural products industry veteran with two decades of experience in emerging industries. She has developed and implemented creative strategies and initiatives to expand and stabilize markets by engaging underrepresented business interests and communities.

Littlejohn is the senior policy advisor for the Minority Cannabis Business Association where she creates and drives policy for minority entrepreneurs and their communities. Amber currently serves as a member of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable Minority Economic Empowerment Committee. Prior to her work with MCBA, Amber was an advisor and advocate for the cannabis and natural products industries on issues including natural and herbal products regulation, agriculture and small business and rural economic development. She previously worked in regulatory and legislative policy for the American Herbal Products Association where she served as staff liaison to the sports nutrition and personal care industries.

“We are thrilled to strengthen our board of directors with the capable leadership and diverse experience modeled by Amber Littlejohn,” stated USHA president Marielle Weintraub. “Amber brings us critical expertise on substantive issues we must tackle. But just as important is Amber’s vision to promote justice and equity in the cannabis industry; her perspective will be warmly embraced as we try to develop a truly fair and inclusive program.”

“I am honored at the opportunity to work with the USHA. I look forward to working with the USHA to help build a responsible and equitable hemp industry,” Littlejohn said.

The USHA’s certification program is the hemp industry’s initiative to provide standards, best practices and self-regulation, giving consumers and retailers confidence in hemp and CBD products. Farmers, processors, manufacturers and brand owners who meet the program’s standards, as determined by an independent, third-party audit by Food Chain ID, the program’s new administrator, are awarded a seal of certification, signaling to consumers that their products are worthy of their trust. 

The spotted lanternfly (scientific name Lycorma delicatula) is a non-native invasive planthopper that has been making its way throughout the northeastern U.S., feeding on and destroying farm crops, including apples, peaches and grapes, and trees, such as maples and black walnuts. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Native Invasive Species Information Center, the lanternfly has also been known to “severely impact” hops (scientific name Humulus lupulus), a relative of the hemp plant. (Cannabis and Humulus are both members of the Cannabaceae family, order Rosales.)

The pest, also known as the lanternmoth, is “native to China, India and Vietnam [and] is thought to have arrived as egg masses on a stone shipment in 2012,” according to Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Science (CALS). “The first infestation was found in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014 in a wooded area of Ailanthus altissima, or Tree of Heaven,” Cornell CALS reported. Since then, “despite a quarantine of the townships involved, and efforts to eradicate this pest, spotted lanternfly has proved difficult to contain,” according to Cornell CALS, and has spread throughout many Pennsylvania counties and into various regions of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

BrianHPhoto | Adobe Stock

In Pennsylvania alone, the devastation “is costing the … economy about $50 million and eliminating nearly 500 jobs each year,” according to a Penn State study, as the York Daily Record reported in January. 

Contributing to the spreading infestations is the bug’s ability to lay egg masses containing 30 to 50 eggs each, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and its widely reported ability to lay those masses on a variety of different surfaces.

“It’s only a matter of time until they occupy all the habitat that, potentially, based on our climate models, is good for them,” says Christopher Tipping, Ph.D., a professor of biology at Delaware Valley University (often referred to as Del Val) in Doylestown, Pa. Those climate models “are based on photo period, climate, temperature, rainfall, plant diversity, all that,” he explains.

Entomology Today (ET) shared a map that modeled—based on research by U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography in China—"what other locales offer potentially suitable habitat for the invasive insect.” According to ET, “In the United States, their findings show most of New England and the mid-Atlantic states as well as parts of the central U.S. and Pacific Northwest are vulnerable to establishment of the spotted lanternfly if it finds its way there. … Globally, they also found suitable habitat in much of Europe plus parts of eastern Asia and the southern reaches of Africa, Australia, and South America.”

“They’re tremendous. They can disperse a great distance. Those little spider-looking nymphs have the ability to walk a long way and they can feed on a great variety of plants,” says Tipping.

Are Hemp Crops at Risk?

Despite hemp’s sister plant (hops) being impacted by the lanternfly, several biologists/entomologists with experience in the regions where lanternfly populations currently exist suggest that hemp farmers may be spared the devastation the invasive insect is causing other crops. However, research thus far is limited and more needs to be done, especially on different hemp (and all cannabis) varieties.

“While we haven’t observed the spotted lantern fly feeding or laying eggs on hemp yet, this may still be a possibility,” says Alyssa A. Collins, Ph.D., director of the Southeast Agricultural Research & Extension Center at The Pennsylvania State University. “We have both hemp fiber/grain and CBD photoperiod-sensitive/auto-flower variety trials at two geographic locations in Pennsylvania this year: Lancaster County (Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center, where I am based) and Centre County (Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, just outside of State College). The spotted lanternfly is not yet established in Centre County, but this will be the first growing season that an established population of spotted lanternfly is on our research farm in Lancaster County. 

“We will be eager to watch our plots to see if hemp becomes a target for the pest and evaluate the varieties accordingly,” adds Collins. “I’m curious to know if the woody-stalked mature CBD varieties will be able to support feeding or if they are unattractive or have a biochemistry that is deterrent to feeding.”

The Pennsylvania State University has just started formal research, under research technologist Lauren Briggs, to see if hemp could support the spotted lantern fly as its only food source. (See the photo of the “bug dorms.”)

Photo by Dr. Alyssa Collins. 

“They have some very specific plants they prefer to feed on, and the question is still out,” says Tipping, regarding the full range of plants the lanternfly might target. “They have been shown to be able to live successfully through most of their life stages on hops, and hops are in the same family as cannabis.”

Tipping says he applied for a grant to study the lanternfly on a crop of industrial hemp but was unsuccessful. “The regulations in Pennsylvania can be a little tough. … We're getting better, but they tend to be a little restricted. So I haven't been able to do that,” he says. “What I've been doing is visiting a lot of the local hemp producers, and I scout their fields.”

While Tipping hasn’t yet been able to conduct formal research to study the lanternfly and any potential impact on hemp (he has plans to grow his own hemp to do so), he has observed the lanternfly in action and has collaborated with local farmers to gauge what they are seeing. “I have had people send me pictures of young [lanternflies] that find themselves on young hemp plants, but they don't tend to stay,” he says. “Two years ago, I had a student who was interested in hemp. He grew some industrial hemp with me, and we were looking at some photoperiod effects and things like that. And we had found a bunch of spotted lanternflies, and we just put them on the plants, and they did not want to stay on the plant. So, I think at this point, when I hear of them on [hemp] plants, it's more of a ‘I'm just visiting. I'm getting a drink and I'm moving on.’”

Tipping notes that “the nature of these insects is that they feed on so many hosts as they develop, and they're constantly on the move to find that optimal nutritional profile that they need to develop. Grapes for sure are one of the bigger ag problems. In the fall, they get to be a problem on certain hardwoods—maples—and right now I can find them on young walnuts, quite significantly, but as soon as they get their wings, they're going to start flying and looking for their favorite hosts and perhaps some other hosts we haven't quite identified just yet.”

Current research suggests, Tipping points out, that the insect’s meal of choice is the Tree of Heaven, which, like the lanternfly, is a non-native invasive species brought to the U.S. from Asia; and while the lanternfly is devastating certain agricultural crops and residential trees in the U.S., based on what is known to date, it does not seem to pose a significant threat to hemp.

“People see five or six of them in their field and they get panicky, and I understand. But they don't stay there,” says Tipping.

In New Jersey, another state with regions where lanternfly populations have developed into infestations, hemp has not proven to be a favored lanternfly host. “We have not had any reports of spotted lanternfly on hemp in New Jersey,” Jeff Wolfe, Public Information Officer for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, commented in an email.