This week on the hemp podcast we saddle up and gallop out to Gordonville, Lancaster County, for Horse Progress Days, a two-day celebration of all things horsepower.
Nearly 40,000 people were in attendance July 5-6, mostly Amish and Mennonite farmers and families. The weather was hot, the air was thick with humidity and the sounds of horses whinnying.
What does Horse Progress have to with industrial hemp? Good question. Bear with me.
In one of the vendor tents there was a cluster of businesses that specialize in working with hemp.
Cameron Macintosh, hempcrete builder at Americhanvre, was there representing his company as well as the Pennsylvania Industrial Hemp Council.
He said the horse power farming communities know about hemp, but because of the volatile CBD market, hemp does not have the best reputation among the horsepower set.
"Many farmers in this community invested heavily in growing CBD back in 2018 and '19," he said, "and then suffered through the subsequent crash of that market in 2020 and 2021."
So when you mention hemp in this community, that's what they think of.
"That's why we're here," he said, "to show the community that the fiber industrial side of the (hemp) plant has dramatically more promise, more opportunity for their community than CBD ever did."
On this episode, we will talk to several of the hemp folks in attendance at the event, including Heidi Custer from Tuscarora Mills in Bedford, Pennsylvania, and Kelly and Jarrett Burke from KifCure, a hemp company based in Northern Illinois that's developing regional infrastructure in the Great Plains.
I also had the chance to chat briefly with Reuben Riehl from Lancaster County Marketing, who was involved in planning the event.
Everyone I spoke to about hemp mentioned Reuben as the reason they were at Horse Progress in the first place.
"It fits very well with our community," Riehl said, mentioning the farming and building aspects, but he doesn't expect it to be an overnight change.
"I think it it'll take some time for it to resonate here, but it will be okay," Riehl said.
Also on this episode, Lancaster Farming visits with Sam Connor at Free Flow Farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just north of Pottstown, where he's growing about 30 acres of industrial fiber hemp and raising grass-fed and finished beef and pastured chickens.
"We have two different varieties that we planted here," he said. "We have a Uma for variety, which is a Chinese variety, as well as Futura 83, which is a French variety."
Connor said he is growing for I-Hemp Katalyst, a company that is developing processing capacity in Pennsylvania.
Connor is excited to be an early adopter of what he sees as an industry with vast potential and is proud that his crops will be used in innovative ways.
"I believe some of it's going to be used for biodegradable hemp plastics, some of it's going to be used for hempcrete. And I think there's even a possibility of something to do with ceiling tiles and things like that.
Learn More:
Horse Progress Days
https://horseprogressdays.com/
Americhanvre Cast-Hemp
https://americhanvre.com/
Kifcure
https://kifcure.com/
Tuscarora Mills
https://tuscaroramills.com/
Lancaster County Marketing
https://lancastercountymarketing.com/
Thanks to Our Sponsors!
IND HEMP
https://indhemp.com/
National Hemp Association
https://nationalhempassociation.org
Music by TIN BIRD SHADOW
www.tinbirdshadow.com
