Making Progress With Hemp at Horse Progress Days
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.
\u201cMany farmers in this community invested heavily in growing CBD back in 2018 and \u201919,\u201d he said, \u201cand then suffered through the subsequent crash of that market in 2020 and 2021.\u201d
So when you mention hemp in this community, that\u2019s what they think of.
\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here,\u201d he said, \u201cto 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.\u201d
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\u2019s 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.
\u201cIt fits very well with our community,\u201d Riehl said, mentioning the farming and building aspects, but he doesn\u2019t expect it to be an overnight change.
\u201cI think it it\u2019ll take some time for it to resonate here, but it will be okay,\u201d 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\u2019s growing about 30 acres of industrial fiber hemp and raising grass-fed and finished beef and pastured chickens.
\u201cWe have two different varieties that we planted here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a Uma for variety, which is a Chinese variety, as well as Futura 83, which is a French variety.\u201d
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.
\u201cI believe some of it\u2019s going to be used for biodegradable hemp plastics, some of it\u2019s going to be used for hempcrete. And I think there\u2019s 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
Kifcure
Tuscarora Mills
Lancaster County Marketing
https://lancastercountymarketing.com/
Thanks to Our Sponsors!
IND HEMP
National Hemp Association
https://nationalhempassociation.org
Music by TIN BIRD SHADOW