# Why Wheat Farmers Should Explore Hemp Fiber Farming in Today's Markets > USDA forecasts wheat at $6.20 while Purdue's wheat breakeven was $8.69. Wheat farmers can trial hemp fiber farming as the crop after wheat harvest. *Published 2026-10-03 ยท tags: hemp-fiber, economics* **Q:** Why should wheat farmers explore hemp fiber farming? **A:** Wheat farmers should explore hemp fiber farming as a second crop after wheat, because USDA's 2026 wheat price still sits under university total-cost breakevens and fiber uses the drill, mower, and baler wheat farms already run. It is contracted industrial hemp, not marijuana, and not a replacement for the wheat base. --- Wheat farmers already run the rotation hemp fiber farming fits. You harvest wheat, and you still have a season. [USDA's August 2026 WASDE](https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde) raised the 2026/27 season-average wheat farm price to $6.20 per bushel. Purdue's January 2026 guide put wheat breakeven at $8.69 per bushel on average-productivity Indiana soil, with earnings near -$268 per acre at the $4.95 price in that budget. [USDA ERS](https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-income-finances/farm-sector-income-forecast) expects wheat receipts down about 2.5% in 2026. The wheat base can stay. The open half of the year is the question. Industrial hemp for fiber is not marijuana. It is a non-psychoactive crop at or below 0.3% delta-9 THC, licensed under [USDA AMS](https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/hemp). After wheat you drill it thick, ret it, and bale it. You are not replacing the wheat you just combined. ## Why Wheat Farmers Should Look at Hemp Fiber Farming After Harvest Hemp fiber farming belongs in the slot where many farms now try double-crop soybean. Purdue's January table showed wheat alone losing money and wheat plus double-crop soybean as the system with a positive double-crop line, about +$135 per acre on those soybeans at $10.20. Prices moved after January. The structure did not: a second crop is how wheat acres pay overhead. That second crop does not have to be soybean. Fiber hemp sells bast and hurd, not oilseed. The association's [planting hemp after winter wheat](/planting-hemp-fiber-winter-wheat) page is the calendar. Full-season fiber, if you are a spring-wheat farm with no double-crop window, is a different decision and should be priced as a replacement acre, not a bonus acre. [University of Kentucky](https://agecon.mgcafe.uky.edu/articles/grain-profitability-outlook-2026) is useful for the grain side of the rotation. It will not price your bales. A fiber contract will. Do not budget hemp fiber farming as guaranteed profit on top of wheat. Budget freight, ret time, and the acres you can actually drill before the season runs out. ## What Hemp Fiber Farming Adds Behind the Wheat Combine Wheat farmers own the drill and, on many farms, the baler they already use for straw. Fiber harvest is closer to straw harvest than to a soybean combine. The biology is not straw. ### The Double-Crop Window for Hemp Fiber Farming [Penn State Extension](https://extension.psu.edu/industrial-hemp-production) wants fiber drilled at 35 to 55 pounds per acre and cut between early bloom and seed set. Field retting can take weeks, with raking before the bale. After winter wheat, that sequence has to finish before frost and before you need the field for the next wheat seeding. Short-season fiber varieties are the ones to ask a seed seller about. The [spring planting](/planting-hemp-fiber-spring) page covers full-season timing if you are not double-cropping. If you want grain in that window instead, read [hemp grain farming for wheat farmers](/en/news/wheat-farmers-hemp-grain-todays-markets) and take the disease note seriously. ### Nitrogen After Wheat for Hemp Fiber Farming The [nitrogen guide](/en/news/maximizing-hemp-fiber-grain-growth-navigating-nitrogen-needs-following-major-crops) starts hemp after wheat around 50 to 75 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Penn State publishes about 150 pounds for fiber when phosphorus and potassium are already optimum. After a wheat crop that was fertilized for grain, a soil test tells you which end of that range you are on. Hemp fiber farming does not need a corn nitrogen bill. It does need enough nitrogen to make bast, not a starved yellow stand. ### Bast Buyers, Not the Wheat Elevator Your wheat elevator will not take these bales. Textile and construction buyers will, against grades in the [US Hemp Textile Standard](/standards/us-hemp-textile-standard) and the [fiber market outlook](/en/news/hemp-fiber-market-outlook-for-us-growers). As of 2024 the HFGA network moved more than 8,000 tons of fiber on contracted acres. [Commodity pricing](/hemp-fiber-grain-commodity-pricing) is the public anchor while you negotiate a local price. Keep plastic out of the bale if the mill is spinning. ## How Wheat Farmers Trial Hemp Fiber Farming Keep the wheat. Add a fiber block you can drill, ret, and deliver. ### Seed for Fiber, Licensed and Certified Order [certified seed](/buy-certified-hemp-seed-planting) of a fiber variety, with [AOSCA](https://www.aosca.org/) paperwork and a state license in place before the wheat comes off. You will not have two weeks to fix a compliance problem between wheat harvest and hemp planting. The 0.3% delta-9 THC cap still applies to a second crop. ### Contract the Bales Before You Drill [Sell your crop](/sell-your-hemp-fiber-hemp-grain-crop) introduces buyers at no charge. Ask whether they want a double-crop fiber lot, what ret they require, and who pays the truck. A mill two states away can erase the reason you skipped double-crop soybean. [US exports](/us-exports) are optional demand, not the plan. ### Fit Fiber Around the Next Wheat Seeding Hemp fiber farming fails if retting collides with planting the following wheat. Put the trial on acres where the next wheat date can slip, or where you were going to leave the field open. The [FAQ](/frequently-asked-questions-industrial-hemp) answers the neighbor questions. Trust is a buyer who wants double-crop fiber. Education is the ret window. Profit is a second check on land wheat alone was not paying for. --- Source: https://hfga.io/en/news/wheat-farmers-hemp-fiber-todays-markets/ HTML version: https://hfga.io/en/news/wheat-farmers-hemp-fiber-todays-markets/