Walking in the Valley of Hemp at Pure Shenandoah
b'
This week on the podcast, Lancaster Farming talks to Abner Johnson, chief operating officer at Pure Shenandoah, a Virginia-based, family-owned hemp company that has built a successful CBD brand while simultaneously going all in on fiber and hurd.
Johnson and several of his siblings operate a full-spectrum hemp facility in the Shenandoah Valley.
They process cannabinoids using CO2 extraction while also developing a fiber processing facility and operating a retail store that doubles as an event space and education center in downtown Elkton, about 15 east of Harrisonburg.
\\u201cWe started off like everybody else,\\u201d Johnson said, \\u201cwith the CBD oils. We did a few different types and different strengths, kind of capitalizing on different terpene profiles.\\u201d
Today the company offers a wide range of full-spectrum CBD products from oils and gummies to pet products and smokable flower.
In the first few years of production, the company grew more CBD hemp than it needed. To maintain its product lines, it only needed to grow around 20 acres a year.
\\u201cAnd that was a little bit of a Debbie Downer,\\u201d Johnson said, \\u201cbecause we wanted to see hemp take over and be the new cash crop and help out so many people.\\u201d
And that, Johnson said, is why he and the company started growing and researching hemp for fiber and hurd.
They started with 15 acres of fiber hemp the first year, around 200 acres the following year, and now they are currently growing several hundred acres, stockpiling the harvest in round bales to be processed at their fiber facility that\\u2019s coming online soon.
The company was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the Air Force to develop hempcrete blocks.
Johnson said the U.S. military has set very ambitious carbon goals, and hemp as a building material fits nicely into its plans.
\\u201cReceiving that contract is a huge, huge step in the right direction,\\u201d Johnson said.
He said the military\\u2019s interest in hemp reminds him of the Hemp for Victory program during World War II and how farmers were required to grow hemp in the American colonies.
\\u201cHistory repeats itself,\\u201d he said. \\u201cAnd this contract with the Air Force to me is like a domino falling in the right direction.\\u201d
Learn More about Pure Shenandoah
News Nuggets
Minnesota cannabis czar steps down over illegal products in her hemp shop
https://hemptoday.net/minnesota-cannabis-czar-steps-down-over-illegal-products-in-her-hemp-shop/
USDA Says Genetically Modified Hemp Plant \\u2018May Be Safely Grown And Bred\\u2019 In The United States
\\xa0
Thanks to our sponsors for their support!
Americhanvre Cast-Hemp, North American distributor of the E-Reasy Spray applied Hemp Crete System
IND HEMP in Fort Benton, Montana
\\xa0
'