Drying services have come a long way since the CBD biomass bonanza of 2019, when makeshift drying tents were erected in Southern Oregon, and every standing outbuilding filled, it seemed, including greenhouses.  There were less outbuildings standing in the end, with structural fires there and also in Pennsylvania, among those attributed to hemp drying.  As hemp prices fell, crops were increasingly abandoned in the field. 

Contract drying facilities for hemp emerged throughout the country in 2019 and 2020, charging several dollars/lb. dry weight, and employing a number of approaches to drying the crop.  Those that professionally air dry and cure smokable flower can charge over $14/lb. in select markets, perhaps much higher in some cases, though we do not have any recent figures for flower drying.  Given the skill it takes to cure premium flower, that’s a bargain.   

With the biomass bonanza in our rear-view mirror,…