Prairie PROducers Podcast | industrial hemp: it's not the future; it's today

Today’s interview with Aaron Rydell, is both exciting and eye-opening.  I met Aaron at a recent ag expo; I fell in love with their products and instantly asked if they would be interested in sharing their hemp story – of course they said yes! Aaron is an enthusiastic hemp farmer and business owner in Colorado. He has been growing hemp and expanding his knowledge and experience in the industry since 2014.

At Salt Creek Hemp Company, their goal is to provide a quality product for the unlimited applications of this plant through sustainable and organic cultivation of industrial hemp.

At Hemp Home Styles, everything they create is designed to change perspectives.  Their mission is to change the way hemp is viewed. To change how our planet looks. And to change the future for farmers. Their products are made using recycled and sustainable materials, utilizing a local supply chain, to bring their customers products that do more than just look beautiful. 

As you listen, you will hear how passionate Aaron is about the future of the industrial hemp industry!

Follow them on Facebook:

Salt Creek Hemp Company

Hemp Home Styles

Connect with Aaron directly: [email protected] 

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp and agriculture.

In today’s interview, I had the pleasure of interviewing Vanessa Snyder. She is the Business Development Director at Eurofins. At  Eurofins, their mission is to contribute to a safer and healthier world by providing their customers with innovative and high quality laboratory, research and advisory services whilst creating opportunities for their employees and generating sustainable shareholder value. Vanessa explains how they are achieving their mission, and she also shares her passion for the industrial hemp industry as a Hemp Advocate, supporting the natural products and supplements industry.

To connect with Vanessa directly, find her on LinkedIn or email her at: [email protected] 

Referenced Bill: Click H.R.841 to learn more.

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

In this episode I interviewed Hunter Buffington, who is the Executive Director of the Hemp Feed Coalition.  The Coalition is a diverse set of stakeholders from across the United States and Canada. Their mission is to gain Federal approval for hemp and its byproducts as animal feed to create new markets for farmers, processors and feeders.

As the Executive Director, Hunter utilizes her experience; as well as her passion for data collection, by working with regulators, policy makers, universities, nonprofits and businesses to implement strategies for developing our emerging hemp industry.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed doing the interview!

Connect with Hunter directly via email: [email protected]

Learn more on the Hemp Feed Coalition's Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter!

BECOME A MEMBER

Referenced Articles:

Stakeholder Study

Pathway to Regulatory Approval

PRESS RELEASE: Hemp Feed Coalition submits the first ingredient application in the United States for hemp to be federally approved as a feed ingredient for poultry. 

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

From all of us at Prairie PROducers, we’d like to wish you a Happy New Year and say thank you to all of those that supported us in one way or another in 2020. We are extremely thankful for the connections we made, the opportunities we were given and the growth our future holds. In today’s episode I thought I would give a podcast overview and a recap of our year.

We launched the Prairie PROducers Podcast in July, since that time we published 11 episodes. We interviewed a variety of people from our own staff, the MN Department of Agriculture, cannabis accountants, a variety of hemp entrepreneurs, and many others! Our episodes have been played over 550 times, around the world. In fact, we have listeners from 10 countries. Our goal going forward is to continue to share information and education on a variety of industrial hemp topics.

As a business, we worked closely with local farmers who each raised a trial grow of roughly 20 acres. Each farm operated a little differently, as far as planting dates and planting methods. Between us and them, we also experimented with cutting and baling methods. Overall, we believe the farmers were successful and learned a lot through the process. We truly wouldn’t be where we are today without them. Behind our facility we grew our own test plots, where we experimented with 5 varieties of seed, 3 planting dates, and 3 populations. We monitored stand counts, rate of growth and fiber quality in both our plots and the farmers’ fields.

Towards the end of the summer we had a Field Day, where over 150 people attended to view our plots, and learn more about industrial hemp. We gained many connections that day and are thankful for all that attended.

Currently, we have our hemp bales stored as we wait on processing equipment. Our Genetics Research Manager, Joe Dollerschell has been busy with indoor grows. He harvested feral seed, and is now growing and cross-breeding different varieties and documenting what he is learning. His plan is to plant these varieties in our test plots to get a true representation of how each variety grows in our Minnesota weather conditions. As we did in 2020, these plants will be tested by the MN Department of Agriculture for THC levels. This process is an internal experiment, that will most likely take years to develop best practices and a true understanding of growing industrial hemp.

In 2021 we plan to be fully processing and look forward to connecting with those that are either interested in growing hemp for fiber or are already growing for grain or cbd and want to sell us their fiber, to eliminate waste and potentially open another market. In the few short days we’ve had in the new year, we already have some great conversations going and can’t wait to share all those details with you as they unfold!

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

In today’s episode, I interviewed Tyler Hoff, one of the founders of Bulk Hemp Warehouse. We talked about the retail side of hemp, as well as building a successful hemp-related business. At Bulk Hemp Warehouse, they sell a variety of hemp products; such as bags, clothing, rope, twine, food, oils, raw hemp seeds and more! But Tyler also has a passion for education and marketing, so you can also find him at   HempAware.com – which is a platform he uses to spread awareness about the benefits and value of Cannabis Hemp. They are here to shine light on hemp's essential uses for food, shelter, clothing, and 25,000 other things!

Ways to connect with Tyler:

Bulk Hemp Warehouse

HempAware

Or you can email him directly at [email protected]

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

In today's episode, I experienced the excitement of talking about accounting for the cannabis industry with Mark Waller and Betsy Morem.. yes, I said excitement!  We talked about the importance of hiring a CPA firm who is passionate about what they do, so you have the time freedom to be passionate about what you do.  We also discussed how technology is evolving the world of accounting; as well as financial reports, taxes and most importantly; what it would look like if you worked with Mark and Betsy directly!

If this resonates with you, please head to their website and schedule a time to talk with them when it works for you.  Or reach out to them individually on LinkedIn by clicking their names here: Mark / Betsy.

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

In today’s episode I went on a virtual farm tour with Grant Herfindahl. He showed me the feral hemp growing on his family farm, and explained what a typical day is like for him, as Congressman Collin Peterson’s Staff Agricultural Assistant. We talked about regulations, learning curves and where they see the future of the industrial hemp industry.

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

In today’s episode, I interviewed someone with so much energy who is making waves within the industrial hemp industry. Her name is Erica Halverson and her company is called Tiny e Paper.

Her goals are BIG, her vision is inspiring and her mission is going to have a major impact on not only the hemp industry, but the economy and the environment as well. TINY e PAPER makes 100% pure hemp paper on a commercial scale within a nominal cost increase over its tree paper version.

They make hemp paper out of hemp stalks and the waste from CBD Extractors, taking care of 2 problems within the cannabis industry and beyond..... they sell their products and run their companies using a smarter resource than trees and utilizing a lot of waste being generated by a rapidly growing category. She discusses how holistic the entire plant truly is and how her journey has evolved because of it!

You can find Erica on Facebook or LinkedIn and you can find Tiny E Paper on their Website, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

That's a wrap on Prairie PROducers' first Harvest!  In today's episode, Mike Marks gives us an overview of what our very first crop production year looked like; from planting to baling.  He shared what worked well, what didn't and what we are looking forward to as the hemp fiber industry grows! 

If you'd like to contact Mike directly, you can email him at [email protected] 

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.

In this week’s episode, Hemp Grower’s magazine Associate Editor, Theresa Bennet gets to be on the other side of the interview. She contacted Paul and Tim earlier this summer and interviewed them as part of her research into the Hemp Fiber industry. You can find Theresa’s article, The Future of Fiber, at hempgrower.com

But before you head there, listen as Theresa and I talk about niche’s and breakthroughs she has seen within the hemp industry. She shares her excitement for fiber and how she believes we, as industry experts can continue to share information and education!

"Hemp Grower is owned by GIE Media, based in Valley View, Ohio. HG’s mission is to support legal hemp cultivators by providing actionable intelligence in all aspects of the business—from regulatory news to analysis of industry trends and business strategy, as well as expert advice on cultivation, extraction, marketing, financial topics, legal issues and more.

HG focuses strictly on the business of legal hemp and aims to provide timely information—through its website, e-newsletter, print magazine and annual Cannabis Conference—to help the reader make timely, informed decisions to help them run their hemp businesses more efficiently and more profitably."

To contact Theresa, you can email her at [email protected] or by phone at 216-393-0262.

Thank you for listening to the Prairie Producers Podcast! You can find us on our website at https://www.prairieproco.com/, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also contact us directly at [email protected].  We’d love to hear from you and we hope you continue to follow us on this journey of re-connecting hemp fiber and agriculture.