CBD producer sues Oregon hemp seed company for $44 million over ruined crop

A Kentucky-based CBD company filed a $44 million lawsuit against an Oregon hemp seed company, claiming the hempseeds it supplied were bogus and contributed to ruining the company’s 2019 crop.

Lexington-based Elemental Processing estimated it lost at least $44 million in profits after HP Farms of Troutdale, Oregon, allegedly supplied it with more than 6 million seeds that were mostly male instead of the feminized seeds it expected to be able to produce hemp crops for CBD production, according to The Oregonian and OregonLive.

The suit, filed last week in circuit court in Multnomah County, Oregon, said HP Farms entered a purchase agreement to provide Elemental Processing with 6.4 million high-quality, mature, feminized seeds with a CBD potency greater than 10% and a germination rate higher than 90%.

Elemental Processing made an advanced payment of more than $352,000 to HP Farms for the seeds, which cost 60 cents each, and agreed to pay $3.5 million more, or 15% of the proceeds from the flowers of the harvested plants.

It was only after the Kentucky company had distributed the seeds to the farmers and the crops had germinated that it realized the seeds were 70% male, Elemental Processing claims.

When it was determined the plants were male, the crops were destroyed to prevent the male seeds from pollinating other female plants in the vicinity.

HP Farms could not be reached for comment.

– Hemp Industry Daily and Associated Press