Industrial Hemp Podcast

Eric Hurlock, Digital Editor
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Lancaster Farming newspaper editors talk to farmers and experts about industrial hemp.

  1. 4d ago

    Is Fashion Avenue Ready for Hemp Textiles?

    This week, the Hemp Show takes place in New York City, at the intersection of Industrial Hemp and Fashion Avenue. Last month, the National Industrial Hemp Council held its annual Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. With two full days of presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities, the "Seed to Style" summit attracted people from all parts of the hemp supply chain, as well as people from the worlds of fashion, design and global textiles. This episode offers a snapshot of what the intersection of hemp and fashion looks like in 2026. We talk to Shannon Mayer, dean of the Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology at FIT; Patrick Atagi, president and CEO of the National Industrial Hemp Council; and Curie Chang, founder and CEO of Ofibera, a luxury hemp apparel company. Learn more National Industrial Hemp Council of America https://nihcoa.com/ NIHC Global Summit https://nihcglobalsummit.com/ FIT's Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology https://www.fitnyc.edu/academics/academic-divisions/business-and-technology/index.php Ofibera https://www.ofibera.com/ Bonus: NIHC Industrial Hemp Annual Market Guide https://nihcoa.com/new-nihc-industrial-hemp-market-guide-now-available-online/ The NIHC's first annual guide to U.S. hemp production and markets, which debuted in print on hemp paper at the Seed to Style summit at FIT, is now available online. ONE PLANT in Lancaster https://www.oneplant.film/lancaster Tickets: ONE PLANT double screening, Oct. 24, Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lancaster-farming-sunflower-present-one-plant-tickets-1998324956739 Thanks to Our Sponsors! Jungmaven jungmaven.com IND HEMP indhemp.com Americhanvre Cast-Hemp americhanvre.com King's AgriSeeds kingsagriseeds.com Forever Green, distributors of the KP4 Hemp Cutter hempcutter.com

  2. Sep 25

    Hemp Grain for Fuel: Wendy Mosher of New West Genetics

    New West Genetics has been focused on crop improvement in the hemp industry since 2014. In July of 2021, the Lancaster Farming National Hemp Tour paid a visit to the New West headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Wendy Mosher sat down for an interview with the host of the Lancaster Farming podcast, Eric Hurlock. That's me. It's sort of weird to talk about myself in the third person, but anyway, on this week's show we catch up with Mosher to hear about the past five years. Back in 2021, Mosher spoke about new hybrid varieties of hemp grain that could double yields. And now five years later, that hybrid is in the middle of a market that wasn't on her radar back in 2021: renewable fuels. The oil from hemp grain makes an excellent biofuel, she said. We also talk about her work with the Hemp Feed Coalition, a group dedicated to opening the livestock feed markets for hemp. Our conversation was recorded in August before the McConnell deadline was extended to December. She welcomes closing the loopholes in the regulations. "Bad actors still, to this day, impact my company. So I want them out of there. And it's their own fault if there's a huge backlash. It's their fault for not taking care of that in their industry," she said. It's a fun conversation, so listen up and climb on board the RV Time Machine. Learn More New West Genetics newwestgenetics.com/ Hemp Feed Coalition hempfeedcoalition.org/ ONE PLANT Lancaster Screening, Oct 24  oneplant.film/lancaster Get Tickets — ONE PLANT in Lancaster  eventbrite.com Sponsors Jungmaven — hemp clothing, made in the USA jungmaven.com IND Hemp — Fort Benton, Montana indhemp.com Forever Green, distributors of the KP4 Hemp Cutter hempcutter.com

  3. Sep 17

    Melissa Nelson of South Bend Industrial Hemp on Five Years of Growth

    This week on the Hemp Show, we're revisiting some of the folks we met during our National Hemp Tour of 2021. Five years ago this summer the Industrial Hemp Podcast hit the road to map the industry as it was then. Hemp farmers, processors and manufacturers were few and far between at the time. One of the stops we made in the summer of 2021 was South Bend Industrial Hemp near Great Bend, Kansas, where Melissa Nelson, her husband Aaron Baldwin, and brother-in-law Rich Baldwin had recently installed a decortication machine that processed raw hemp bales into usable streams of fiber and hurd. Melissa's vision for growth has always been about building a resilient regional supply chain. South Bend Industrial Hemp developed a growers group with the intention of educating local farmers to grow the crop. Five years later, the team at South Bend works with a group of 27 growers across Kansas, producing around 7,000 acres of hemp this season. "Our farmers are everything," Nelson said. "At the end of the day, we couldn't do this without them. And the responsibility that we feel because of the trust that they put in us is immeasurable. I carry that weight very heavily on my shoulders and it's very important to me that they have success." Listen to the whole show to hear how South Bend has grown over the past five years — the challenges, the successes, the learning curves and much more. Learn More South Bend Industrial Hemp southbendindustrialhemp.com Lancaster Farming lancasterfarming.com Thanks to Our Sponsors Jungmaven jungmaven.com IND Hemp indhemp.com Forever Green / KP4 Hemp Cutter hempcutter.com Kings Agriseeds kingsagriseeds.com

  4. Sep 10

    Hemp on the Hill and the Silver Screen

    This week's Hemp Podcast is divided into two parts. First, we take a look at the recent changes in U.S. hemp policy in a conversation with Rachel Umansky-Castro, the agriculture reporter for Bloomberg Government, who has spent the summer covering the fight over the federal definition of hemp. She walks us through what's been happening in D.C. lately, who the various lobbying groups are and what they ultimately want from federal policy. "There are so many divisions among these lawmakers, and it's clear that the hemp issue has split members of the same party, " Umansky-Castro said. Last week, Congress used a continuing resolution to push the so-called Mitch McConnell deadline from November to December 11, and Umansky-Castro explains what that extra month does and doesn't buy the industry. In part two of the show, we check in with Tennessee filmmaker Jordan Berger, whose documentary, "One Plant," is finally finished after several years of production. "The plant itself, you know, it touches on everything. And this thing started as a series because there's just so much, but we ultimately made it one film," Berger said. One Plant premieres at the Nashville Film Festival on September 26, 2026. From there, the film travels around the country to other festivals, with stops in Bozeman, MT; Santa Cruz, CA; and Minneapolis, MN. On October 24, the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast will host a double screening of One Plant in Lancaster, PA, at the Zoetropolis Theatre with a Q&A and time to meet others from the film and the Pennsylvania hemp community. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., tickets are available on Eventbrite at the link below. Learn More Get Tickets — ONE PLANT in Lancaster  eventbrite.com ONE PLANT Lancaster Screening, Oct 24  oneplant.film/lancaster Bloomberg Government news.bgov.com/ Rachel Umansky-Castro — Bloomberg Government news.bgov.com/author/rachel-umansky-castro-25432161 Hemp Ban Delay Passed by Congress After Blowback From Hardliners news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/hemp-ban-delay-passed-by-congress-after-blowback-from-hardliners Nashville Film Festival — World Premiere, Sept 26 nashvillefilmfestival.org/2026-festival Bozeman Film Festival — Oct 10 bozemanfilmfestival.org Santa Cruz Film Festival — Oct 17 santacruzfilmfestivals.org   NIHC Global Summit — "Seed to Style," FIT, NYC nihcglobalsummit.com Choose Your Change — Farm to Fabric Hemp Textile Symposium  chooseyourchange.org Sponsors Jungmaven — hemp clothing, made in the USA jungmaven.com IND Hemp — Fort Benton, Montana indhemp.com

    Hemp on the Hill and the Silver Screen

  5. Sep 4

    Seed to Style: Inside the NIHC Summit with Patrick Atagi

    This week on the Industrial Hemp Podcast, we talk to Patrick Atagi, president and CEO of the National Industrial Hemp Council, the organization that's hosting the Seed to Style hemp fiber summit in conjunction with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Sept. 16-18. This event is a continuation of the conversations NIHC facilitated in Raleigh, N.C., last summer when they held their fiber summit at N.C. State's Wilson College of Textiles. But this year, the stakes are a little higher and the energy burns a little brighter. Because that's what New York City does: It amplifies everything. "It's building materials, it's clothing — the different parts and pieces of hemp all together, making it all work together. And the culmination is a fashion exhibit," Atagi said. The fashion exhibit caps the summit on Thursday evening — hemp coming off the field and onto the mannequin, the "seed to style" idea made real. Also, one big nugget of hemp news this week: Congress has hit the snooze button on the McConnell deadline that threatens to shut down the vast majority of the cannabinoid hemp industry. Intoxicating hemp products are still out, but the industry has an extra month to fight for its future. The clock is still ticking, but now the alarm is set for Dec. 11, 2026. Learn more NIHC Global Hemp Summit nihcglobalsummit.com Summit Sessions nihcglobalsummit.com/sessions/ The Goodness of Hemp Act thegoodnessofhemp.org Cornell Hemp hemp.cals.cornell.edu Thanks to Sponsors Jungmaven jungmaven.com IND HEMP indhemp.com Kings AgriSeeds kingsagriseeds.com Forever Green hempcutter.com

  6. Sep 1

    Counting the Blessings of HempWood with Greg Wilson

    This week on The Hemp Show, we check in with Greg Wilson from Hempwood in Murray, Kentucky where, five years ago, Lancaster Farming's National Hemp Tour made its first stop. A lot has happened with Hempwood since then, and on this episode, Wilson brings us up to speed. In many ways, this show is a counting of the blessings — a list of what Wilson and his team have accomplished over the past half decade. We discuss new factories, new products and award-winning installations in the Bowling Green public schools that are changing the quality of education through natural building materials for generations of Kentucky schoolchildren. Learn more HempWood hempwood.com Bowling Green Daily News bgdailynews.com/2026/08/11/students-returning-to-school-amid-numerous-projects/ Cornell Hemp hemp.cals.cornell.edu Ursa Alta from Condor Seed condorseed.com/seeds/industrial-hemp/hemp-ursa-alta/ Murray State University – Center for Agricultural Hemp murraystate.edu/academics/CollegesDepartments/HutsonSchoolOfAgriculture/CenterForAgriculturalHemp/index.aspx Land Between the Lakes landbetweenthelakes.us Floor Covering News fcnews.net/2026/07/flooring-sustainability-summit-honors-2026-award-winners/ Thanks to our Sponsors! Jungmaven jungmaven.com IND HEMP indhemp.com Americhanvre americhanvre.com Forever Green hempcutter.com

  7. Aug 28

    The National Hemp Tour 5 Years On

    This week on the hemp podcast we take a ride in the RV Time Machine. We're going back five years, back to the National Hemp Tour in the summer of 2021, when we took the podcast on the road — and took my family too. We traveled over ten thousand miles from coast to coast in a rented RV visiting hemp farms, processors and manufacturers across the country. The industry was sparse then and these hemp companies were few and far between in 2021. And keep in mind that in 2021, most of the noise around industrial hemp was actually about CBD flower and canabinoid production. What made our trip different was that we were talking to the people on the fiber and grain side of the industry, where the game-changing potential of this plant is strongest. Think houses, textiles, food and fuel. Think row crops, think big acreage, think about a third crop in with our beloved corn and soy. Think Hemp, big, boring and ubiquitous. But it has to start somewhere. People have to start doing things to make it happen. So in 2021, I set out to meet the people where they were. I went to see the farms, see the fields and see the factories. I wanted to meet the people, hear their dreams and see their visions come to life. And now five years later, with gas prices approaching 5 dollars a gallon, we go back on the road again, but this time we go virtually. Over the next few months, I will be sharing new conversations from the people I met on the road back then. We'll hear what's changed, what's stayed the same and what the industry looks like now. But before we start publishing those episodes, we're going to go back in time and revisit the tour itself. This episode is your atlas for our time travel. Buckle up, buttercup, and we'll see you in 2021. Thanks to our Sponsors IND HEMP indhemp.com Condor Seeds condorseed.com Forever Green hempcutter.com

  8. Aug 21

    The Fiber King In-Field Decorticator

    On this week's show, we catch up with Lancaster County farmer, hemp innovator and cover-crop coach Steve Groff to hear about the progress on two machines that have been years in the making and, he thinks, are finally about ready. The headliner is the Fiber King in-field decorticator, a project Groff has been developing with Larry Serbin of Hemp Traders. Instead of hauling bulky raw stalks off the field, the machine decorticates the hemp right where it grows: the fiber is laid on the ground to dry for a couple of days and then round-baled while the wet hurd drops into a standard forage wagon. Groff calls it a systems approach. They're ready to build the first commercial unit and are testing at universities, but they're waiting on investor funding to get there. The economics are the whole point. Hemp is expensive to move as raw biomass — you just can't get enough weight on a truck — so decorticating in the field adds value for the farmer and lowers transportation costs as the crop gets denser. "You want to give the farmer as much profit as possible," Groff said. We also talked about his four-inch precision no-till hemp planter, developed through a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture innovation grant. By singulating seed and placing it on even four-inch spacing, the planter aims for the uniform, pencil- to Sharpie-sized stalks that textile buyers want, Groff said. Learn More Steve Groff stevegroff.com Hemp Traders hemptraders.com Hemp Events and Happenings One Plant Documentary World Premiere — Nashville Film Festival  Nashville, TN Sept. 26 nashfilmfest2026.eventive.org/schedule/one-plant-6a729213e47b192d0a91b154 Hemp Lava Love Workshop  Tucson, AZ  Oct. 13–15 hemplavalove.my.canva.site/garden-wedding-website-ph-in-white-red-black-romantic-scrapbook-style-style One Plant Documentary Screening Lancaster, PA Oct. 24 eventbrite.com/e/lancaster-farming-sunflower-present-one-plant-tickets-1998324956739 Thanks to Our Sponsors! Americhanvre americhanvre.com IND Hemp indhemp.com Forever Green hempcutter.com

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About

Lancaster Farming newspaper editors talk to farmers and experts about industrial hemp.

Information

  • Creator
    Eric Hurlock, Digital Editor
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    408
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 - Lancaster Farming
  • Show Website
    Industrial Hemp Podcast

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