This week's guest on the Industrial Hemp podcast is Lucia Vignale, a third-year PhD student at Cornell University, where she studies plant breeding, genetics and pathology.

"I'm interested in searching for, mapping, and characterizing new sources of resistance against hemp powdery mildew," she said.

Vignale earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in molecular biologist in her native Uruguay, and in 2022 she came to Larry Smart's hemp lab at Cornell on a Fullbright scholarship to pursue her PhD.

Her passion for hemp is intertwined with her passion for science.

There's so much that we don't know about hemp, she said, "so I want to answer questions. I want to solve problems."

She said with other crops like corn, cotton or soy, there is already so much research out there, so much is already known. But hemp, she said, "has been largely unexplored due to legal issues," and the untapped potential excites her.

"There's so many things that we can do and learn from it, and we are seeing that in person now with all the new products and applications that we can get from it, she said.

One of her jobs in the Cornell hemp lab this year was to plan and execute the fourth annual hemp webinar series, which starts January 29 and runs biweekly until May 7.

This year's webinar series will focus on hemp grain and will include presentations from hemp grain experts. (see full list below)

The webinar series is free but registration is required.

Go here to register: https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0vJzjCiA0SLCOua 2025 Hemp Webinar Series Schedule

January 29: IND Hemp, founding and mission – Morgan Tweet, IND HEMP

February 12: Pathogens affecting hemp cultivation – Nicole Gauthier, University of Kentucky

February 26: Hemp products as food ingredients – Chadwick White, Nepra Foods, Ltd.

March 12: Screening of seed related traits in wide germplasm – Tyler Gordon, USDA-ARS

March 26: Novel high oleic acid seed oil trait – Ian Graham, University of York

April 9: Hemp seed meal as a feed ingredient in animal diets – Nathalie Trottier, Cornell University

April 23: Best agronomic practices – Bob Pearce, University of Kentucky

May 7: Hemp products as food ingredients – Kendra Meier, HPS Food & Ingredients

Learn More about Cornell Hemp: https://hemp.cals.cornell.edu/

News Nuggets: 13th Annual International Hemp Building Association Symposium to Be Held at Lower Sioux Indian Community

https://internationalhempbuilding.org/

https://lowersioux.com/hemp-program-and-housing-project/

Thanks to our Sponsors!

• IND HEMP
• Americhanvre
• Kings Agriseeds
• Forever Green