HiLo Seed Co. Selects First Round Of Winners In Hemp Seed Giveaway

In one of the first nationwide seed giveaways of its kind, HiLo Seed Co. will award 1 million hemp seeds to U.S. farmers by the end of 2020. The first round of winners were selected on March 31, and each will receive at least 15,000 HiLo Autopilot 1.0 hemp seeds.

HiLo Seed Co. was an exhibitor in the inaugural Hemp Pavilion at the 2020 World Ag Expo in Tulare. Attendees were able to sign up for the Million Seed Giveaway at the show.

American farmers at a crossroads

During this challenging time for American farms, HiLo is giving away hemp seeds that can produce a potentially high-value crop to encourage more farmers to gain hemp-growing experience and avoid future pitfalls of growing hemp at scale on a larger number of acres. By providing high-quality seed — as well as education and guidance on how to grow hemp — HiLo hopes to help new hemp farmers succeed.

“Seed cost is one of the biggest line items on a hemp farmer’s budget,” said HiLo Head of Farmer Relations Kevin Nowell. “We’ve seen a lot of farmers end up with seed that’s potentially unstable and poor-performing across the board, which causes huge losses for the farmer.”

Education and advocacy

While seed is valuable, it’s the consulting and farmer education that is the real prize. Hemp can be a difficult crop, even for experienced farmers, but it has the potential to be highly profitable for those who are willing to learn. HiLo’s experts have more than 150 years combined experience in agriculture to support winners of the prize seed throughout the process, from planting to harvest, through one-on-one guidance, crop consulting and troubleshooting, as well as HiLo’s other educational offerings such as the Know Before You Grow workshop series and the three-part webinar series Autoflower 101.

Seed winner Dana Jordan of Bliss Farms in South Carolina knows the value of farmer education.

“I have spent a good bit of time the last few days watching webinars from HiLo and doing my due diligence, researching and getting to know the company, and I am so impressed!” Jordan said. “I’m excited to work with such a positive group of people. We are more than happy to work with y’all on all things hemp.”

Farmers will also receive crop consulting from Agrarian Supply, which provides research-based analysis and cultivation support to guide farmers to achieve the highest-quality hemp to the largest possible yield, at the lowest cost.

Winners of the Million Hemp Seed Giveaway will share their results with HiLo to benefit the emerging U.S. industrial hemp industry, and HiLo will continue to share insights through its weekly webinar, the ‘Lo Down. HiLo aims to advocate for hemp growers and the hemp industry by helping farmers bring the power of hemp to the world.