US Hemp Production Surged to $739 Million in 2025, USDA Report Shows
Floral hemp drove nearly 90% of outdoor production value as the industry faces a looming federal ban on hemp-derived intoxicants.
By CBDWorldNews Editorial Staff | April 23, 2026
The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service published its annual National Hemp Report on April 16, 2026, putting total U.S. hemp production value at $739 million for 2025. That marks a 64% increase over 2024 and signals a sharp rebound for an industry that spent the previous two years contracting. The data arrives at a critical moment: federal legislation to ban hemp-derived intoxicants could take effect by November 2026, potentially gutting the segment responsible for most of that growth.
Outdoor Hemp Production Climbs 53%
Outdoor hemp accounted for $646 million of the total, a 53% year-over-year gain. Farmers planted 49,267 acres across the country, up 9% from the prior year. Harvested acreage jumped even faster, climbing 34% to 43,707 acres. The gap between planted and harvested acres narrowed significantly, suggesting fewer crop failures and better agronomic practices across the board.
The numbers confirm what producers on the ground have reported for months: demand for raw hemp biomass picked up throughout 2025. Processors who had slowed purchasing in 2023 and 2024 returned to the market as retail CBD sales stabilized and new product categories matured.
For consumers looking at the finished product side, retailers like CBDProducts.com have tracked a parallel uptick in demand for full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD oils sourced from domestically grown hemp.
Floral Hemp Dominates the Numbers
The standout figure in the USDA hemp industry report is floral hemp production. Growers harvested 33.2 million pounds of floral hemp in 2025, a 60% increase over the prior year. That output carried a value of $574 million, representing nearly 90% of all outdoor hemp production value.
Floral hemp refers to the flower-bearing portion of the plant grown primarily for cannabinoid extraction, including CBD, CBG, and other non-intoxicating compounds. Its dominance in the USDA data underscores a reality the industry has understood for years: cannabinoid products are the economic engine of American hemp farming.
“When you strip away the floral hemp segment, the remaining fiber and grain operations account for a small fraction of total production value. The USDA data makes that dependency impossible to ignore.”
The concentration raises hard questions about the industry’s resilience. If federal policy removes or restricts cannabinoid-rich hemp, the remaining fiber and grain operations would represent a far smaller agricultural sector than the $739 million headline suggests.
Protected Cultivation Explodes
One of the more striking data points involves hemp clones and transplants grown under protection, such as in greenhouses or hoop houses. The number of plants in this category hit 1.08 million in 2025, a 203% surge from the year before. The value of those protected plants reached $1.96 million, up 339% year over year.
While the dollar figure remains modest compared to outdoor production, the growth rate signals strategic investment. Protected cultivation allows growers to start plants in controlled environments before transplanting them outdoors, improving survival rates and cannabinoid consistency. It also supports year-round nursery operations that supply seedlings and clones to farms across multiple states.
This kind of infrastructure investment suggests that producers remain optimistic about long-term demand, even as regulatory uncertainty clouds the near-term outlook. Pet CBD manufacturers who source from these operations, including suppliers listed on CBDPet.com, benefit from the quality improvements that protected starts provide.
The Federal Ban Casts a Long Shadow
The USDA report captures a snapshot of an industry at full speed. But the 2025 growing season played out before Congress moved toward banning hemp-derived intoxicating products, a category that overlaps significantly with the floral hemp segment driving these numbers.
If the ban takes effect as scheduled in November 2026, the consequences could reshape U.S. hemp farming within a single growing season. Producers who planted cannabinoid-rich cultivars in 2025 would need to pivot to fiber or grain varieties, a shift that requires different equipment, different processing relationships, and different end markets. None of those alternatives currently generate revenue anywhere close to what floral hemp commands.
The USDA data reveals the scale of the adjustment. At $574 million, floral hemp accounts for roughly 78% of total U.S. hemp production value. Remove that segment, and the industry shrinks to approximately $165 million, smaller than it was during the post-2018 Farm Bill contraction.
What the Data Means for the Industry
Several takeaways emerge from the 2025 National Hemp Report.
Growth was broad-based. Acreage, harvest volume, and production value all increased. This was not a story of higher prices masking declining output. Farmers grew more hemp on more land and sold it for more money.
The cannabinoid segment is the industry. Nearly nine out of every ten dollars in outdoor hemp value came from floral hemp grown for CBD and related compounds. Policy decisions targeting that segment are, in practical terms, policy decisions about the entire hemp farming economy.
Infrastructure investment continued. The tripling of protected cultivation capacity shows that capital is still flowing into hemp production systems. Growers and nurseries are building out facilities designed to support cannabinoid-focused farming for years to come.
The regulatory timeline matters. The 2026 growing season is already underway. Farmers made planting decisions months ago based on the market conditions the USDA just documented. If the federal ban moves forward on schedule, those crops may face a fundamentally different market at harvest.
The USDA’s 2025 data tells a story of an industry that found its footing after a painful correction. Whether it gets to keep that footing depends on decisions being made in Washington, not in the field.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. CBD products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
