Researchers affiliated with Oregon State University recently analyzed the national hemp market, finding that “Oregon leads the U.S. floral hemp production by acreage, followed by California and Kentucky.”
“Oregon has 35% of floral hemp acreage in the U.S., followed by California (23%) and Kentucky (21%). Sixteen states engaged in floral production in 2023.” wrote researchers Govinda Shrestha and Samikshya Pandey on the Oregon State University Extension Service website.
The hemp industry data analysis also found that South Dakota led the nation in fiber hemp production, with Montana coming in second, and Missouri ranking third (by acreage). Additionally, the researchers determined something about Oregon’s hemp industry that has never happened before.
“Also, for the first time, hemp was ranked among the top 20 Oregon crop commodities by value in 2024.” stated the researchers. Oregon has long served as a top agricultural state in the U.S., and the fact that hemp has become one of the state’s top 20 crops is remarkable.
Oregon’s non-hemp cannabis industry also produces a lot of product. Oregon’s legal industry harvested a record 12.3 million pounds of non-hemp cannabis in 2024. The record harvest in Oregon in 2024 was a 28% increase over the previous year, according to a recently published report by Emerald Intel.
During his presentation at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin, Germany in April 2025, leading international cannabis economist Beau Whitney, founder of Whitney Economics, projected that the value of the global industrial hemp industry could be as much as $456.2 billion if mainstream industries harnessed hemp as a production input.
A recent market analysis and report by Vangst Staffing and Whitney Economics determined that the legal cannabis industry in the United States sold roughly $30.1 billion worth of cannabis products in 2024. The report also found that the legal U.S. industry supports 425,000 full-time jobs.