On this week's hemp podcast, Lancaster Farming talks to Czech hemp farmer, consultant and advocate Hana Gabrielová, who started her first hemp company, Hempoint, in 2010 and has been instrumental in developing the hemp industry in the Czech Republic and Europe ever since.

More recently, with several American partners she founded KonopiUS, which distributes European hemp genetics in the U.S. and provides agronomy consulting services.

Gabrielová said the regulatory process to grow hemp in the Czech Republic is relatively easy compared to the U.S., where growers need a permit, an FBI background check, and THC testing before harvest (For now. Fingers crossed for the 2024 Farm Bill and the Industrial Hemp Act).

"Hemp farming is not really difficult in regards to the law," she said. "The farmers can buy seeds, which are on EU-registered database."

While growers don't have to get a permit, they are still required to inform the government.

"You have to announce one month from sowing, how much did you sow? Where did you sow? Which variety did you sow?" she said. "And announce it to the customs office."

Gabrielová is a board member of the European Industrial Hemp Association, which is based in Brussels but is holding its annual conference in Gabrielová's home city of Prague June 5-7.

The conference will bring together hemp entrepreneurs and policymakers from around the continent and the world.

This year's event includes a trade show where hemp companies can display their products, similar to the NoCo Hemp Expo that took place last month in Colorado.

There are plenty of European cannabis events, but Gabrielová said this one will be different because it will focus strictly on industrial hemp products instead of "vape pens and marijuana seeds."

Hemp was prohibited for 60 years in the Czech Republic and faces the same marijuana stigma that confuses people in the U.S.

While industrial hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the cannabis plant, industrial hemp has a wide range of industrial applications, such as building materials, textiles and bioplastics, and food ingredient applications for both human and animal consumption.

The hemp industry is relatively small in the Czech Republic. Gabrielová said there are about 300 farmers growing hemp, mostly on small farms, but a handful of big farms too.

Processing is a challenge because there is no decortication facility in the Czech Republic, "so we have to import all the hemp fibers," Gabrielová said, "which is a lot, because we have a big paper mill here."

Also on this episode, Lancaster Farming talks with Patrick Atagi from the National Industrial Hemp Council, who has organized a delegation of American hemp companies, including HempWood, IND Hemp, Tuscarora Mills (and one hemp podcaster) to attend the EIHA conference and expo in Prague next month.

Funded by USDA Market Access Program, the mission of the delegation, Atagi said, is to increase production and help U.S. farmers by finding markets for American hemp goods.

"It's to push product globally and establish a foothold in Europe and beyond," he said.

In two weeks, the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast will be reporting from the Czech Republic.

Learn more:

Hempoint

https://hempoint.cz/en/

KonopiUS

https://www.konopius.com/

European Industrial Hemp Association

https://eiha.org/

CzechHemp Cluster

https://www.czechemp.cz/en/home/

Cannabis Embassy

https://cannabisembassy.org/

Sustainable Cannabis Policy Handbook

https://cannabis2030.org/

National Industrial Hemp Council

https://nihcoa.com/

News Nuggets!

Key Components of the Industrial Hemp Act are in the Farm Bill

https://nationalhempassociation.org/25816-2/

NIHC to receive 275K in RAPP Funding

https://fas.usda.gov/programs/regional-agricultural-promotion-program/rapp-funding-allocations-fy-2024

Thanks to our Sponsors!

IND HEMP

https://indhemp.com/

National Hemp Association

https://nationalhempassociation.org

Forever Green

https://www.getforevergreen.com/

Music Courtesy of Tin Bird Shadow

Special Thanks to the Beastie Boys

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNPGM2D7aODfk-63EIolk3X-VNRsJ7Hjw