Industrial Hemp Podcast

Click to read the show notes. On episode 45, we dig in a little deeper on the PA Department of Agriculture's THC testing protocols by talking to Corey Fitze, COO of Pennsylvania Hemp Research, a private cannabis testing company in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Then we review PDA's latest letter to hemp permit holders which is intended to clarify their last letter, which really confused some CBD growers...

Click to read the show notes. On this week's podcast we talk to Dr. Steve Groff of Groff North America, a hemp processor in York County, Pennsylvania, that is bringing HempTrain technology to its Red Lion processing center. Groff shares breaking news about Groff North America's recent acquisition. We also hear from a Lancaster County farmer who thinks the state's THC testing requirements might pos...

Click to read the show notes. What happens when a nearby farm that's growing seed and fiber crops accidentally pollinates your CBD operation? Hopefully, you'll never find out, because the result would be your losing a big chunk of your profits. Or what if it was your farm that accidentally pollinated someone else's crop? You might find yourself on the receiving end of a lawsuit. These are some of...

Click to read the show notes. How are things looking at area hemp farms? That's what podcast host Eric Hurlock wanted to find out so he visited three local hemp operations to talk to the farmers. First he went to ReLeaf Farmacy in Glenmore, Pennsylvania, to talk to hemp growers David Thompson and Pat Benzing. Then he went drove out to the Penn State research farm near Landisville to talk with dire...

Click to read the show notes. According to Dr. Ron Kander, materials engineering professor at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, the way to ramp up the hemp industry is to start small. "You have to find some high-value, low-volume products that can use hemp as a biomass so that you can start developing processes that then let you put that material into consumer products and industrial pr...

Click to read the show notes. The United States has never really seen an industry develop out of thin air the way the hemp industry has. Illegal and listed as a dangerous drug only six months ago and now poised to disrupt industries and institutions across the board, hemp has had an incredible journey. Author Jen Hobbs chronicles the history of hemp in America, why it was made illegal, how it help...

Click to read the show notes. On this week's show we talk to Matt Chambers and Darius Soltes, co-founder/broker and chief science officer, respectively, at Supplant Commodities, an industrial hemp brokerage firm based in Denver, Colorado. The company works as a bridge between farmers, processors and manufacturers to facilitate trade and further the industry nationwide. Chambers talks about the cha...

Click to read the show notes. On this episode of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we talk to cannabis consultant, farmer and entrepreneur, Oneal Latimore. He's working with Proud Pennsylvania to develop healthy supply chains in the state, while also developing his own hemp farm and processing facility in Chester County called Nottingham Farm. In the interview, we discuss the importan...

Click to read the show notes. This week's podcast guest is Judy Wicks, founder of Proud Pennsylvania, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to uniting rural and urban communities to build regional economies that work for everybody. Proud Pennsylvania has established a Hemp Local Supply Chain Coalition in order to develop and strengthen the connections between hemp farmers, processors, e...

Click to read the show notes. On this week's episode of the Industrial Hemp Podcast, we celebrate Hemp History Week with a handful of stories about hemp's role in history through the ages, as well as hemp related news such as the USDA's most recent guidance on industrial hemp and the FDA's hearing on CBD. Then, host Eric Hurlock interviews Alex Seleznov, the president and founder of Advanced Extra...

Click to read the show notes. On this week's podcast we talk to Allen Wagner, a greenhouse grower from Altoona, Pennsylvania, who's been in the greenhouse business for 45 years — wholesale, retail, geraniums, plants of all kinds. But not too long ago the box stores moved in and started eating up his market share — and nearly put him out of business. But when the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law,...

Click to read the show notes. On this week's episode we talk to National Hemp Association Executive Director Erica McBride Stark about her recent trip to Washington DC, where she met with the Senate ag committee to discuss the implementation of the hemp provisions within the 2018 Farm Bill. Her main concerns are the lack of banking services for hemp farmers and businesses, and the importation of h...

Click to read the show notes. According to Shannon Powers, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Lancaster County leads the state in number of registered industrial hemp growing sites with more than 80 sites in the county. On this week's podcast we talk to three key people at PDA: Powers gives an overview of the hemp program and what the department is doing to support hemp...

Click to read the show notes. Podcast episode 32 goes to Barto, Pennsylvania — to Wildfox Farm — where Ben and Karah Davies own and operate what two years ago was simply an organic produce and pastured meat farm. But the farm is now also a leader of industrial hemp growth in eastern Berks County. For first year hemp growers, this conversation with Ben Davies should be enlightening and helpful, esp...

Click to read the show notes. The Industrial Hemp podcast goes on the road this week to a farm in Berks County, Pennsylvania, where two local businesses are collaborating to build a tiny house made from hemp. COEXIST Build is a design and build company owned and operated by architect Anastasiya Konopitskaya and her husband Drew Oberholtzer, and Americhanvre is a hempcrete and cask hemp company own...

There's been a lot of speculation that hemp seed cake – the byproduct of crushing hemp seed for oil – would make an excellent feed for beef and dairy cattle, as well as for other types of livestock, such as poultry and pork. The nutritional profile of the hemp cake looks pretty good. It's super high in protein and omega 3 & 6 fats, but there are some not so attractive qualities to hemp seed too, a...

Click to read the show notes. Colon cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute, and claimed the lives of more than 50,000 Americans in 2018. Promising new research from Penn State College of Medicine shows that certain compounds found in the hemp plant may be helpful in fighting the disease. On this week's podcast we talk t...

Click to read the show notes. Susquehanna Mills is an oil seed processor in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, where the owner Josh Leidhecker started growing hemp on a research permit in 2017, since then he's added substantial hemp acreage to his farming operation, as well as a line of hemp related products to his processing business. We talk to Josh about getting started in hemp, why he considers hi...

Episode 27 is highlight reel of USDA's recent 2018 Farm Bill Listening Session on Domestic Hemp Production that was held March 13, 2019. The USDA invited public comments in order to help inform their process of drawing up regulations and guidelines for the hemp industry in the United States. Comments were made by several agriculture departments from hemp growing states, cannabis industry professio...

Episode 26 of the Industrial Hemp Podcast gathers perspective from various places. First we talk to Pennsylvania Senator Judy Schwank about the new Senate bill that clears the way for CBD to be used as an ingredient in food and cosmetics. Then Penn State Extension educator Jeff Graybill shares words of caution for farmers as they make their journey into hemp. Bill Roberts describes the vision of t...

On this week's Industrial Hemp Podcast, we talk to Cornell University horticulture professor Dr. Larry Smart, one of the leaders of the hemp research team at Cornell. We discuss his long term study of the shrub willow as a bio-energy source and how that research prepared him for working with hemp. We talk about hemp genetics, the implications of hemp's dioecious nature, the challenges and promises...

On this week's podcast we talk to Cover Crop Coach Steve Groff and local business leader and greenhouse grower Tim Good talk about their new venture into industrial hemp called Keystone Agri-Science. Find out why Tim Good says hemp "is the best opportunity ever for agriculture, just as the farmers are struggling, and I can't help but think that God must have been looking out for his farmers." We d...

The Farm Bureau has supported the reintroduction of industrial hemp as a commodity crop for many years. In fact, Mark O'Neill, communications director for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, says that without the lobbying efforts of Farm Bureau, industrial hemp would still be classified as a schedule 1 narcotic. On this episode of the podcast, we talk to O'Neil and his colleague, Bill Neilson, the direc...

What does world class cyclist Floyd Landis have to do with industrial hemp? As it turns out, quite a bit. Lancaster County native and one time winner of the Tour de France, Landis opened a CBD café in Leadville, Colorado, and launched a very successful brand of CBD products — Floyd's of Leadville . The prodigal son has returned to Lancaster County to open Floyd's of Lancaster with another accompli...

Click to read the show notes. On this week's show we talk to Jay Burstein of BugOut Guitars in Randolph, Vermont, where he's been making guitars and ukuleles out of industrial hemp. These guitars and ukes are super durable, extremely playable, and are made for adventure. Burstein tells the story of how he first started making stringed instruments and why he ultimately was compelled to build them f...