Industrial Hemp Podcast
This is part seven of a ten-part podcast series documenting the European Industrial Hemp Association's 23rd Annual Conference in Poznan, Poland, at the Institute of Fiber Plants and Medicinal Medicine, June 10-12.
Beau Whitney is the founder of Whitney Economics, based in Portland, Oregon. He has tracked the economics of hemp and cannabis since 2014, and his data is a fixture at industry events around the world. But he found that the numbers alone didn't always land with audiences.
"When I would start talking about hemp as an automobile part or as a substitute for lithium EV batteries, I would lose the crowd," he said.
So Whitney had a hemp-based spoon made and started handing it to skeptics during talks to show that hemp isn't a drug but a real material. That grew into a second venture, the Everyday Hemp Company, which now makes hemp cutlery, straws, plant tags and a plant-based pallet wrap he calls "planet wrap."
Between the data and the products, Whitney's message is the same on both sides: hemp is a real economy, not a novelty.
Whitney Economics
whitneyeconomics.com
Everyday Hemp Company
everydayhempcompany.com
Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants (IWNIRZ)
iwnirz.pl
European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA)
eiha.org
Condor Seed
HEMI — The Hemp Education and Marketing Initiative
Bish Enterprises — FiberCut Hemp Harvesting
1937 International