Hemp's transformation from the stuff of rope to a cannabinoid powerhouse is detailed. Discover how flower drives the $28 billion market, fueled by edibles, beverages, and wellness products.
Once upon a time, when someone mentioned hemp, what came to mind was hemp seeds, hemp rope, and hippy-friendly hempen textiles. But as a new white paper on the history, current state of affairs, and prospects of the American hemp industry shows, the hemp economy these days is dominated by the production of hemp flower to be processed into cannabinoids, intoxicating and non-intoxicating, and sold in a variety of products, led by edibles, gummies, and beverages.
The Hemp Industry Prospectus: Market Overview + Regulatory Pathways cites industry-watching data hawks Whitney Economics to peg the size of the legal hemp market at around $28 billion, with more than 300,000 people employed on the farm, in production facilities, among business professionals, and in the retail sector. Whether it is non-intoxicating wellness products using hemp-derived CBD or intoxicating hemp products using hemp-derived THC or delta-8 THC, hemp cannabinoids are supercharging the industry.
And it's happening right out of the (farm) gate. The report cites US Department of Agriculture's USDA National Hemp Report 2025 showing the farmgate value of all hemp grown in the US at about $445 million, with hemp flower from which the cannabinoids are obtained accounting for nearly 90 percent of the value. The rest came from industrial hemp for fiber, seeds, and grain.
And the USDA may well be understating the dominance of cannabinoid-bearing hemp flower, the Prospectus notes, citing an August 2025 report from Whitney Economics that found methodological problems with USDA's calculations. The agency "blended the average of the sales of biomass and the flower, and the combined average price per pound seriously undervalues the crop."
Once hemp gets off the farm and hemp-derived cannabinoids make it to the store shelf, the numbers grow eye-watering. After the 2018 farm bill legalized low-THC hemp and its derivatives, including CBD, soon became the fastest growing segment of the hemp industry, and thousands of companies were manufacturing and retailing CBD-infused goods, from seltzers to gummies to topical creams and beyond. But that led to a glut, falling prices, and industry consolidation, with many smaller companies forced out of the market and major players reporting revenue declines and layoffs.
Still, the report cites the Gitnux 2025 Hemp Industry Statistics Report showing that demand for hemp-derived CBD reached nearly $24 billion globally last year, withhemp-derived CBD products accounting for nearly 60 percent of US CBD market share and hemp-derived THC-free CBD products accounting for two-thirds of that.
And it's not just people. A 2025 report from Grandview Research showed the pet CBD wellness market continuing to grow, with a value of $331 million in 2024, projected to increase ten-fold to $3.94 billion by 2033.
CBD-based wellness products are considered non-intoxicating, but intoxicating hemp products including items such as delta-8- or THCA-infused beverages and edibles also make up a significant chunk of the hemp market, the Prospectus found. When it comes to edibles, both intoxicating and non-intoxicating cannabinoids have large markets. The industry generated around $12 billion in edibles last year, according to the Cannabis Edibles Market, with intoxicating THC edibles having about twice the market share of non-intoxicating CBD edibles, and with "full spectrum" CBD and THC edibles also playing a substantial role.
The most popular edibles are gummies, followed by chocolate, beverages, and baked goods. Gummies are favored for their convenience and discretion, as well as their variety of flavors and chewable format, while chocolate's appealing flavors and aura of luxury make it attractive to consumers. With gourmet options and premium package, chocolates further appeal to consumers looking for sophisticated indulgence.
The Prospectus also examines the rise of intoxicating synthetic cannabinoids derived from CBD. Manufacturers learned to chemically convert CBD into psychoactive THC isomers including delta-8, delta-10, THC-O acetate, and HHC. Using processes such as isomerization and acetylation, companies began making intoxicating hemp products. They were able to argue that, unwittingly or not, Congress had legalized such substances by defining hemp as including its derivatives, cannabinoids, extracts, and isomers. And a market for such products soon emerged.
By 2022, hemp CBD-derived intoxicating cannabinoids were widely available in products such as beverages, gummies, and vape cartridges, especially in those states without legal marijuana markets. Gummies, including some packaged with up to 1,000 mg of THC, became the most popular item. Beverages infused with THC derived from hemp CBD also jumped in popularity.
The market opening led to the creation of between 500 and 750 hemp-derived THC beverage companies, who sell their products in marijuana shops in states where it is legal. But they also sell them online, at retail establishments, or via alcohol distributors, who see intoxicating hemp drinks as an increasingly valuable part of their beverage portfolio as alcohol sales decline. Only about 20 percent of THC beverage sales take place in sanctioned marijuana retail outlets.
The US THC Beverage Report (2025) from Whitney Economics found that an industry that was virtually nonexistent in 2018 reached $150 million in sales by 2022 and has now surpassed the billion-dollar mark. It estimated 2025 sales in the US at $1.1 billion. That figure could jump to between $9.9 billion and $14.9 billion by the end of the decade, the cannabis forecaster predicted.
On the industrial hemp side of the equation, the Prospectus found that the global hemp seed market is currently worth $710 million and is expected to jump to $1.6 billion by 2027, while the global hemp fiber market size was nearly $380 million in 2024 and is projected to grow at compound annual growth rate of 20.4 percent to reach nearly $2 billion by 2033.
The Prospectus finds that the American hemp industry has blossomed in the wake of the 2018 farm bill, and the global hemp industry is set to grow at a significant pace for the foreseeable future. But with the looming ban on many hemp products set to go into effect in November 2026, the American hemp industry, and floral hemp in particular, is at a crossroads. If the language of the 2025 federal shutdown bill remains the law of the land, the legal floral hemp industry will be largely eliminated. The only viable option for the industry is to work with Congress and the administration to convince the federal government that regulation is the better path.