Hector Gerardo, co-founded SEAmarron Farmstead and E&G Community Builders. He built these two businesses with one thing in mind: building people power in BIPOC communities. Hector has dedicated his life to organizing youth, teaching them about power – the power they have individually and as a collective – and the power and potential of their communities. Throughout his career, food insecurity has been the preeminent issue to tackle. Hector is now building a multi-layered, long-term agenda to end food insecurity by farming and organizing communities to build power and reimagining a new food system centered around justice and equity. Hector has been committed to a greater understanding of the compliance and safety laws that govern the tri-state (CT,NY,NJ) area in hemp cannabis industry. Hector has developed a protocol outlining relevant laws and regulations under all acts including but not limited to, the 2018 Farm Bill, Medical Compassionate Care Act, and the more recent MRTA S854 (NY) and Senate Bill 1201 (CT) legalizes cannabis use for adults in CT AND NYS.  

For this morning we’ll talk about:  

1. Hector’s journey as BIPOC Hemp Farmer and advocate 

2. Lack of manufacturing facilities 

3. Fiber 

4. Funding

Join Mandi Kerr, Zach and Brittani Taylor on Thursday morning’s episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward.  Panhandle Hemp Farms LLC is a family-owned and operated business located in Oklahoma Panhandle. They specialize in Feminized Cherry Blossom CBD seed. Its goal is to provide premium, high-quality hemp seeds to help farmers have the most successful growth. They are passionate about growing and hope they are a small piece of the puzzle in making our world a healthier place for future generations.  

For this morning we’ll talk about: 

1. Roughly 3.2 million feminized Cherry Blossom CBD seeds.  

2. Growing 5 greenhouses with light deprivation and can grow all year-round.  

3. Converting female plants into male pollinators using colloidal silver. No pesticides or herbicides were used 

4. Introduced beneficial insects/nematodes. It is 2020 seeds, but they had a new germination report done in February. All documents are available, including germination, COA, and phylos test.  

5. Previously, they contracted growing hemp, but now they're growing their own and trying to sell their own seed

Join Mandi Kerr and Cameron McIntosh on this episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward, Hemp Based Building Materials For Structures.  Cameron McIntosh is the owner of Americhanvre Cast Hemp, Industrial Hemp Coalition Coordinator at All Together Now PA  Americhanvre Cast Hemp We design, partner, and install hemp-based building materials. Green building and sustainable design are at the heart of every building project.  Our innovative 'Hempcrete', made of hemp herd and lime–can be produced sustainably from a renewable resource that sequesters carbon as it grows. The benefits of using Hempcrete outweigh those of traditional building materials. Here are a few: • Insulation to your home or business is carbon negative • Natural thermal properties  • Acoustically properties • Fire-resistant • Pest-resistant  Our mission is to actively store carbon in the walls of our homes, and in doing so, to dramatically improve their energy efficiency in the process.  We are dedicated to the development of applications for hemp and lime materials that reach beyond their capacity for thermal and fire resistance.  At Americhanvre, we envision a future where hemp begins to bridge the gap between sustainability and affordability in our choice of building materials.   Americhanvre is also committed to being mindful of our impact on the environment, supporting our local economy where possible, and promoting the growth and well-being of our clients and employees.  By working openly with others in this industry, we hope to participate in accelerating the shift towards hemp materials and enlightened business practices for the betterment of the planet and of our fellow human beings.

A big thinker, Fred has been dreaming up ideas whether it be for cocktails or climate solutions since before he can remember. Fred’s career started in hospitality, imbuing him with a deep sense of understanding of customer service and entrepreneurship. An award-winning brand ambassador for Hendrick’s Gin, Fred effortlessly directed the execution of experiential events and shepherded the brand through its strongest period of growth. With over 20 years’ experience under his belt, Fred has successfully hired and managed employees, serviced major brands and celebrities, and designed and implemented robust marketing and sales plans.  As Co-Founder and CEO of GÜDPHORIA, Fred is once again focused on big ideas. Teaming up with a family farm in Central Oregon has allowed him to bring his vision for a hemp farm that’s both a catalyst for climate solutions and a way to promote community-led agriculture to life.   

For this morning we’ll talk about : 

1. Gudphoria launch of their first NFT “The Seed”

Join Mandi Kerr and Natasha Wallace on this episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward, Hemp Production in Impoverished Rural Communities.  Natosha Wallace, MBA  has 20 years in Banking Risk Management - building enterprise and global risk management programs in response to regulatory reform. She is educating executives and employees on proactive risk management; identifying risk and controls; operational, regulatory, third party, business continuity, disaster recovery, IT, mergers and acquisitions, project risk management experience; lean six sigma/business process improvement. Natosha uses transferable knowledge to help develop sustainable farming practices through 

1. Building relations across the value chain, 

2. GAP education, 

3. Quality resource development, and sourcing (i.e., certified seedlings, organic pest, disease mitigation, etc.), 

4. Developing and educating farmers on risk management and oversight (KRI, KPIs, controls, testing) 

5. Scaling, Diversifying, By-product development 6. Focusing on continuous improvement ensuring sustainability 

 For this morning we’ll talk about:  

1. Hemp production in impoverished rural communities 

2. Processing 

3. Funding for nonprofit work

 4. By-product development and trade skill training to create new businesses and jobs; future trade opportunities for impoverished communities coming to market 

5. working with the government

 6. risk management

Join Mandi Kerr, Nathan Murphy and Jack Bouroudjian on Tuesday morning’s episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward.  Nathan is the Division Director for Global Smart Commodity Group. Focusing keenly on providing price discovery tools along with track and trace mobile apps to the developing Hemp Fiber and eventually the carbon markets. Nathan is an entrepreneur with an extensive network and background in Hemp. He has numerous international and cross-cultural experiences all around the world for work, study, and play. In 2015 he co-founded a plant extraction company in Colorado that processed hops and hemp using ethanol and CO2 extractions, manufactured consumer goods, did a complete market analysis, and sold them to various retail or distribution outlets. After divesting of that company, he then did geotech work in the Rocky Mountains as an ACI certified QC and QA tester for Best Engineering, USA. After relocating back to Austin in 2020, Nathan found and joined an innovative tech startup serving the hemp industry with mobile applications to track and distribute supply chain data. Nathan graduated from Purdue University with Bachelor degrees in Management and Economics and holds Master degrees in Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation from EMLYON (France) and Purdue University.  Jack is the Chief Economist, co-founder and director of the Universal Compute Exchange and the India Compute Interchange. Previously, he was CEO of Index Futures Group, SVP for Nikko Securities, Japan’s second largest brokerage house; SVP for Credit Agricole Futures and Commerzbank Futures, divisions of the 17th and 25th largest banks in the world respectively.  He also served as President of Commerzbank Futures during the introduction of the Euro currency and oversaw the transition from D-mark to Euro. His responsibilities included planning, executing and supervising an effective marketing and sales program along with creating educational concepts designed to expand the European and Asian customer base along with integrating the new Euro currency effectively into the clearing and settlement system at the global exchanges. Jack is a serial entrepreneur with interests ranging from Fintech to private equity. He has helped create over a dozen companies and thrives on innovative and disruptive ideas.  

For this morning we’ll talk about: 

1. Salus Platform, trading Software 

2. Track and Trace, data collections tools 

3. Collaborations and General Technology trends 

4. Carbon Market Rabbit Hole 

5. What is Global Smart Commodity Group? And what do they do? 

6. What’s the Value of Blockchain for a Commodities Platform? 

7. How transparent transactions will benefit producers and wholesalers, leading to more accurate price discovery? 

8. What are some of the trends within the hemp industry? How might blockchain and smart contracts streamline/simplify some of the challenges in the industry? 

9. What are the topics that are not talked about enough (or talked about at all) in the industry that we are overlooking?

Join Mandi Kerr and John Read on Thursday morning’s episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward.  John is the CEO and Co-Founder of Whitefield Global. John has spent his career working in agriculture and risk management. In 2018 he started looking into creating a risk management program for industrial hemp growers, and in 2019 co-founded Whitefield. In January of this year, Whitefield completed a series of mergers and acquisitions and is quickly becoming a leader in the fiber processing space.  

For this morning, we’ll talk about: 

1. Whitefield's vision as a farmer-centric nationwide fiber processor.  

2. Discuss the background of the 5 companies that merged/acquired and the management team.  

3. Putting the farmer first 

4. Building a supply chain from scratch

Join Mandi Kerr and Phillip Alberti on Tuesday morning’s episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward.  Phillip Alberti (CCA) is a Commercial Agriculture educator with the University of Illinois Extension. Phillip works in commercial crop production, assisting growers and producers by providing resources and consultations for the production of row crops. Phillip also serves as the project lead for the Midwestern Hemp Database project. He earned a BS in Molecular Biology and Botany from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as MS degree in Agronomy from South Dakota State University. Phillip specializes row crop production and industrial hemp.  

For this morning, well talk about: 

1. Midwestern Hemp  

2. Database Cultivar Check Program  

3. Grain/Fiber Trials

Join Mandi Kerr and Kent Masterson Brown on this episode of Moving ^HEMP Forward, Hemp Fiber Used in the Production.  Kent was born and raised in Kentucky. Graduate of Centre College and Washington & Lee University School of Law, Kent practiced law for 46 years in Lexington, Kentucky, and Washington, DC. He wrote seven award-winning books on the American Civil War. He also wrote, produced, and hosted eleven documentary films on various aspects of American History.   Kent is the Founder, President, and Content Developer for the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity that produces documentary films on American History for public and cable television, college and university television, and streaming channels.  

For this morning, we’ll talk about: 

1. Hemp was a staple crop of our early American ancestors because of the use of its fiber for clothing, bedding, floor covering, rope, and bagging. 

2. Hemp was grown by many notable Americans such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Zachary Taylor, among many others. 

3. Hemp fiber was used in the production of rope and sheets, and, consequently, became the fiber- of- choice for the British Navy and, later, the American Navy, during the War of 1812. More than 88 tons of hemp was used for the rigging and sails of "Old Ironsides." 

4. Kentucky became the largest single producer of hemp in the world, next to Russia, during the early years of the 19th Century. 

5. Hemp produced the fiber- of- choice during World War II for the production of parachutes, Army knapsacks, clothing, and even motor vehicle seats, dashboards, and flooring.

Joy is an internationally renowned hemp industries pioneer and legal expert who has been involved with the hemp movement for over 30 years, and her extraordinary passion is contagious! Among a world-class list of roles, Joy is the Founder and Principal at Hemp Ace International, a consulting and expert witness firm serving the global community; host of the popular podcast Hemp Barons; Advisory Board Member of Hemp Grower Magazine, the National Hemp Growers Cooperative, Environmental Living Industries and Colorado Hemp Works; President of the Center for the Study of Cannabis & Social Policy; and consultant to the U.S. Hemp Building Association. Joy opened the first hemp store in New York in 1994, then relocated her family to serve as Secretary to the Vermont Hemp Council in 1996 on the heels of the passage of Vermont’s first hemp research legislation. After a successful dual career in compliance and complex civil litigation supporting some of the nation’s finest attorneys, Joy founded Hemp Ace International in 2014. 

 For this morning, we’ll talk about: 

1. Her unique history in hemp 

2. The companies and organizations in which she’s involved  

3. What she loves about hemp  

4. Calls to action / developing hemp law and regulation  

5. Her vision and future plans