The first International Hemp Auction and Market recently opened its doors in Williamson County, Tennessee. Farmers in the state had marked success at growing the crop this year, but have found themselves with more hemp than they can sell.
Overproduction has caused prices to drop as in-state processors quickly reached their respective capacities.
“It’s been a great market for hemp. This year so many people got into that, it drove the market down quite a bit. So, farmers are having a hard time selling and selling for a good price,” Mark Case, CEO, and founder of the hemp auction told the press.
Farmers are still optimistic that the prices will eventually find an equilibrium, but are still looking for alternative ways to sell their crops.
“We have the opportunity if we can have buyers in one place and buyers compete against each other to actually offer a fair transparent market price. So, that’s the objective,” Case said.
Over 160,000 pounds of biomass is up for auction at the event from several hundred farmers around the state.
Tuesday started off a little slow, being only the first day. That behavior was expected, however, and the results were still hopeful as the event continued through Wednesday and Thursday.
Bidders weaved through large sacks of hemp to inspect the perspective product and glean a better idea of what they wanted to bid on.
With the options for farmers to sell their crops so limited nationwide, auctions like this allow more crops to be sold at a hopefully higher price. If this auction becomes a success, there is a high likelihood of the practice spreading to other states eager to get their harvests sold.
