Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week we talk to Bruce Linton, CEO of Collective Growth Corporation, a fully-funded Special Purpose Acquisition Company that will be acquiring hemp companies along the supply chain in order to develop the industry and fulfill the promise of hemp as material for manufacturing, innovation, and technology. Not interested in CBD, Collective Growth Corp. is looking specifically at the fiber and gra...

The takeaway from this week's show is that growing hemp has its challenges no matter where you try to grow it, whether it's Pennsylvania or Louisiana. First, hemp farmer Angie Deal of Ideal Hemp in Louisiana talks about the hemp program in her state. She says the weather is her biggest challenge, with storms rolling in from the gulf that make it necessary to build trellises for her crop. Then we t...

On this week's hemp podcast we talk to two members of the Pennsylvania Hemp Steering Committee's leadership team, Chet Lapp and Ben Davies. Together they co-chair the Farmer/Processor Outreach and Education subcommittee. We talk about their plans to reach farmers and processors, what sorts of challenges the industry faces, and how they will act as a bridge between people in the hemp industry and t...

On this week's hemp podcast, we talk to Ray Maki, a hemp farmer on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. He's been farming in Hawaii for 30 years and is the owner and operator of Permaculture Kaua'i Nursery and Farm, a 25-acre organic hemp and permaculture farm that specializes in organic hemp production and processing, non-invasive clumping bamboos, fruit trees and exotic tropical landscapes. In the inte...

On this week's podcast we talk to Reggie Weedman whose deep dive on hemp genetics has taken him on a quest  for total-THC compliant hemp genetics that will stay legal even in Hawaii, where he works with local farmers. He finally found what he was looking for in Oregon at Davis Hemp Farm where Jeremy Klettke has been diligently breeding CBD genetics for many years. We then talked to Klettke about h...

Hemp planting season is underway in Pennsylvania, so on this week's show we check in on four different hemp operations to see how the season is progressing. First we talk to Fletcher Kaufman from Agranetics, LLC in Lycoming County, where he is growing outside for the first time this year. Last year he ran an indoor operation. Then we talked to Dale Norley from Tasunka Farm in Chester County, where...

The Pennsylvania Hemp Steering Committee is comprised of farmers, processors, business leaders, lawyers, policymakers and college professors. The committee was established to help guide the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture as they develop the hemp program in the state. Jefferson University engineering professor Dr. Ronald Kander has been selected as chair of the leadership team of the commit...

This week's show is divided into two parts. The first is a Fiberside Chat interview with Brianna Kilcullen, founder of Anact ( https://www.anact.com/ ), a company that makes sustainable bath and hand towels from hemp fibers. We hear about what motivated her to start the business and the challenges and successes she's faced along the way.  The second interview is with Jason Holly, president of Hemp...

One of the buzzwords in the hemp space this year is autoflower. But what is it and why would you want to grow it? This episode answers those questions and a whole lot more with a roundtable panel discussion about autoflowering varieties of industrial hemp with Lancaster County farmer Steve Groff, Atlas Seed Co. Breeder Joe Ullman, and Atlas Seed Co. grower Ryan Power. And here's what we cover: • T...

On this week's show we hear from Shannon Powers, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, where they are still busy processing hemp permits for 2020. So far around 415 applications have been approved, 10 percent of which are processor permits. Powers talks about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the department's roll out of the hemp program this year, changes to this...

In the history of hemp, the mythology of Mitch McConnell looms large. He is often credited with being the guy who made hemp happen for farmers in Kentucky, but McConnell is up for reelection this year. Hoping to challenge him in the Senate race is Mike Broihier, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Marines and a farmer in Kentucky. On this week's podcast, Broihier talks about the hemp industry in K...

The anecdotal evidence of the medicinal benefits of CBD and other cannabinoids for animals is growing, but without approval from the FDA, veterinarians are unable to recommend helm for use in animals, and in most of the US, vets aren't even allowed to discuss cannabis at all with pet owners. This week's guest on the podcast is Dr. Patti Mayfield, a veterinarian and hemp farmer in Oregon, where she...

This week the podcast is all about machinery. From planters and harvester to decorticators, Formation Ag is one of the leading manufacturers of hemp equipment. Our guest this week is Corbett Hefner, vice president of research and development at Formation Ag, who tells us all the different lines of equipment his company has to offer hemp farmers and processors, including the FiberTrack 660, a one-t...

A new edition of Jack Herer's famous book The Emperor Wears No Clothes is now available — in print and as an e-book for the first-time. Originally published in 1985, the book has been called the Bible of Hemp, and rightly so. It gives a rich history of the plant, from the early days of civilization, to its importance in early American life, plus it goes deep into the misinformation campaigns and p...

At a very basic level, terpenes are the molecules in a plant responsible for its aroma, but there is so much more to terpenes than meets the nose. Just over 400 known terpenes exist in the natural world, nearly half of which have been found in the  cannabis plant, making hemp one of the most terpene-rich species in the Plant Kingdom. Through mere coincidence, shared evolution, or sheer providence,...

Hemp farmers, like everybody else, are caught up in the pandemic shutdown. What kind of financial assistance is available, how do you access it, and who is eligible? We talk to Kristen Nichols from Hemp Industry Daily to find out what your options are. Then we talk to Lindsay Dawley from Berks County, Pennsylvania, where she and her sister have launched Almanac Planting Co. to "provide farmers wit...

On episode 79 of the podcast, we cover some of the recent hemp news, including how the COVID-19 shutdown is affecting the application process for hemp growers in Pennsylvania. And what about the states that have chosen not to adopt the interim final rule set forth by the USDA? Plus Georgia and Iowa now have official hemp programs, and South Dakota has finally legalized industrial hemp at the state...

On this week's podcast, we talk to Judy Wicks, founder of All Together Now Pennsylvania and the Industrial Hemp Local Supply Chain Coalition about the importance of local supply chains especially in these times of global pandemic. And then we hear from Dr. Gerald Gaudino, chief science advisor at New Frontier Data, about CBD and the coronavirus, and what the industry can do to stop the spread of b...

This week's podcast is a welcome distraction to the coronavirus news. We talk to founder and CEO of GreenBroz, Cullen Raichart, about automation in the hemp industry. Raichart is an inventor and has created a line of "harvesting solutions" for cannabis, such as trimmers, extractors, batchers and destemmers, which may be of great interest to hemp growers. GreenBroz https://greenbroz.com/ Sponsors K...

Why will the state of Colorado continue to operate its hemp program under the 2014 Farm Bill this growing season instead of adopting a USDA's interim final rule? We talk to Colorado hemp manager Brian Koontz from the Colorado Department of Agriculture to find out. We'll hear about the decision not to adopt the new rules, plus will get an overview of the hemp industry in Colorado, including a look...

Click for show notes. Last week the USDA announced its decision to delay enforcement of several requirements of the interim final rules for the US hemp program, based on feedback it received during the public comment period that ended January 29, 2020. The agency will delay enforcement of the requirement that all hemp testing labs be registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and wi...

Click for show notes. Episode 74: This week we talk to Josh Leidhecker of Susquehanna Hemp and Susquehanna Mills in Lycoming County, where he's been growing for fiber, seed and CBD since 2017. From grain hemp to the current CBD market, this wide-ranging interview will be of great interest to hemp farmers. We also talk to Mia Lowry, one of the organizers of the Keystone Hemp conference taking place...

Click for show notes. What do you get when you cross a hemp farmer, a hemp lawyer and a hemp podcaster? It's not the set up for a joke – it's this week's episode. Hemp Farmer David Thompson of ReLeaf Farmacy in Glenmoore, PA, is concerned about how the new USDA interim rule and the state hemp program in Pennsylvania will affect his business, his ability to grow a quality crop and where this is all...

Click for show notes. Episode 72: In these divisive and hyper-partisan times, it's refreshing to hear about Republicans and Democrats working together. On this week's podcast, we talk to Representative Margo Davidson, a Democrat from the 164th Legislative District in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Russ Diamond, a Republican from the 102nd Legislative District in Lebanon County,...

Click for show notes. Episode 71: This week we talk to Jay Stucky, a CBD hemp farmer in upstate New York. His many concerns about the CBD industry include the high price of CBD and how processors and retailers are making all the money — not the farmers. In this wide ranging conversation, Stucky addresses the call to raise the THC level in hemp from 0.3% to 1%, which he says is not necessary. Then...