loader from loading.io

The Hemp Plastic Company's Paul Benhaim On Why Scalability Matters

Industrial Hemp Podcast

Release Date: 03/26/2025

Global Fiber Hemp Summit Box Set: Sides 1 and 2 show art Global Fiber Hemp Summit Box Set: Sides 1 and 2

Industrial Hemp Podcast

Dear listeners, This week on the Hemp Show, we’re dropping the needle on a very special commemorative box set from the 2025 Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina. In this first installment — Sides 1 and 2 — of a three-episode miniseries, we hear from a wide range of voices building the fiber side of the hemp industry from the ground up: farmers, machine makers, wet processors, entrepreneurs and professors. They’re working in the field and in the lab, bridging research and manufacturing, and helping steer the industrial hemp conversation back to its core: fiber,...

info_outline
The Fiber of Our Being: The NIHC Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit Recap show art The Fiber of Our Being: The NIHC Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit Recap

Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we’re listening to a recap of the 2025 Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit, hosted by the National Industrial Hemp Council of America at the Wilson College of Textiles at NC State, that took place in Raleigh, NC, July 15-17, 2025. For three well-planned days, leaders from across the hemp value chain came together—from farmers and geneticists to processors, engineers, and global apparel brands. On this episode we follow the flow of the summit itself, threading together powerful takeaways from the TED-style talks across agriculture,...

info_outline
How to Nip Intoxicating Canabinoids in the Bud show art How to Nip Intoxicating Canabinoids in the Bud

Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the Hemp Show, we’re continuing the conversation around the need to split the industry into two. There is much confusion in the minds of law makers and consumers when it comes to what hemp is. For years hemp advocates championed the fact that hemp doesn’t get you high, but thanks to a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill, somebody figured out how to get high from hemp, and so began the era of intoxicating hemp that we find ourselves in now. But if hemp is getting you high, it’s not hemp — it’s weed. Stop calling it hemp. And that’s why there needs to be a legislative fix....

info_outline
The PA Flax Project & The Return of American Linen show art The PA Flax Project & The Return of American Linen

Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the Hemp Show we’re talking about flax, a fiber plant with remarkable similarities to industrial hemp when grown for textiles. There’s a fair amount of flax growing this year in southeastern Pennsylvania. The last time this much flax grew here, tractors hadn’t even been invented yet. By the late 1800s flax production was in rapid decline in the Keystone State, pushed out by cheap cotton and forgotten by a country racing toward synthetic fiber — which makes 2025 a special year in Pennsylvania. Thanks to the PA Flax Project, spearheaded by Heidi Barr and Emma de Long,...

info_outline
The Etymology of Hemp and Why Words Matter show art The Etymology of Hemp and Why Words Matter

Industrial Hemp Podcast

Lately on the podcast, I’ve been wrestling with a question of language. What does the word hemp really mean, where did that meaning come from, how has it shifted over time, and who gets to define the word hemp today? For a thousand years, hemp was known as the plant or material that you made things from — things like rope, cloth and paper. But now when people hear the word hemp, they think about weed. And that’s not helpful for a nascent industry trying to raise capital, build infrastructure and develop markets. To help me sort out the history and meaning of the word hemp, I spoke...

info_outline
Bast Fiber Tech and the Rise of Hemp in Nonwoven Hygiene show art Bast Fiber Tech and the Rise of Hemp in Nonwoven Hygiene

Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we’re talking about wipes. And diapers. And makeup pads. And all the other throwaway hygiene products we barely think about — but use every day. Most of these single-use items are made from plastic. Why? Because plastic is cheap, consistent, and engineered to run smoothly on fast-moving machines. But that convenience comes at a cost: landfill waste, microplastic pollution and a total disconnect from the land. But what if we could change that? What if the raw material for these essential products didn’t come from oil — but from...

info_outline
Virginia Hemp Month, Responsible Hemp Standard & Banking Barriers on Brush Mountain show art Virginia Hemp Month, Responsible Hemp Standard & Banking Barriers on Brush Mountain

Industrial Hemp Podcast

On this episode of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we take a look at the fight for industrial hemp’s future — from grassroots advocacy to global certification and the ongoing struggles farmers face in the banking system. Act 1: Virginia Hemp Month – Reclaiming the Word "Hemp" Joe Domino and Scott McStacy of the Virginia Hemp Coalition join the show to talk about their efforts to officially recognize June as Virginia Hemp Month. With events ranging from hempcrete building workshops and beekeeping demonstrations to film screenings and brewery gatherings, Virginia is building...

info_outline
Victory Hemp’s Processing Expansion and the Future of Hemp Ingredients show art Victory Hemp’s Processing Expansion and the Future of Hemp Ingredients

Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week on the show we reconnect with Chad Rosen, founder and CEO of Victory Hemp Foods, who was first on the show back in the summer of ‘21 when I drove the Lancaster Farming National Hemp Tour RV right up to Victory Hemp’s grain bins in Carrollton, Kentucky. When I was there 4 years ago, Victory was processing batches, roughly 20,000 lbs a month, but they just put in a new processing line that lets them do 120,000 pounds of hemp hearts per month, a sixfold increase. But that’s not all. The new production line features “patented processing technology” that Rosen said, “delivers...

info_outline
Inside The NIHC Global Hemp Fiber Summit With Guy Carpenter show art Inside The NIHC Global Hemp Fiber Summit With Guy Carpenter

Industrial Hemp Podcast

The hemp event of the summer is taking place in Raleigh, North Carolina, July 15-17. It's the Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit, hosted by the Wilson College of Textiles, in conjunction with the National Industrial Hemp Council. This week on the Hemp Show, we’ll talk to the lead organizer of the event, Guy Carpenter. Unlike other events focused on industrial hemp, this summit centers squarely on hemp fiber and the industries that are growing up around fiber: textiles, apparel, denim, upholstery, non-wovens, construction, hempcrete, insulation, acoustic panels, automotive, biocomposites,...

info_outline
The Hemp Show in Three Acts: A Café, a Workshop and a Reckoning show art The Hemp Show in Three Acts: A Café, a Workshop and a Reckoning

Industrial Hemp Podcast

This week’s episode of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast unfolds in three acts, each exploring a different facet of the growing hemp industry — from a café built on hemp-based food, to a hands-on construction training, to a linguistic deep dive into the meaning of the word hemp. Act 1: A Hemp Café in Mount Pleasant The show begins with a conversation with longtime hemp entrepreneur Cindy Amick, whose new endeavor is the Planet Hemp Café, which opens June 7 in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. The café aims to showcase the full potential of hemp in everyday life  —from...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

This week on the Hemp Show, we talk with global hemp expert and co-founder of the Hemp Plastic Company, Paul Benhaim. 

Benhaim takes us on a deep dive into hemp plastics — and why he believes scalability is more important than purity. We'll hear about the company and the process of turning hemp into objects like didgeridoos and car parts.

Benhaim has been in the hemp industry for over 30 years, finding early success with a hemp health bar in Europe in the 1990s before moving to Australia where he founded the largest hemp food company in the Southern Hemisphere.

Benhaim tells us about a trip to the Himalayas that inspired his research into communities, health, diet and — hemp. 

"The science says it's the best thing for humanity and it leads to people being vibrant and healthy," Benhaim says.

This experience led Benhaim to write the book "H.E.M.P.: Healthy Eating Made Possible." 

Benhaim explains the 'endocannabinoids,' and the endocannabinoid system present in every living mammal. 

“Our body is literally made for cannabis, hence the system being called the endocannabinoid system, which until relatively recently was never taught to doctors, never taught in medicine. An entire system was kind of ignored," says Benhaim.

Resources & Links:

✅ Hemp Plastic Company

✅ H.E.M.P.: Healthy Eating Made Possible

✅ Interview with Exlinol's Gabriel Ettenson

✅ Cannabis Psychedelics  

Thanks to our sponsors:

✅ IND Hemp – Family-owned hemp feed, food and fiber company bringing new opportunities to farmers and manufacturers across the U.S.

✅ Forever Green – Distributors of the KP4 Hemp Cutter

Music by Tin Bird Shadow

Topics covered in this conversation:

• Paul’s introduction to hemp and his early “aha” moment

• The connection between food, community and vibrant health

• Founding of Hemp Foods Australia and Elixinol

• The story behind his first book: "H.E.M.P.: Healthy Eating Made Possible" 

• How hemp led to broader interests in natural living, permaculture and traditional medicine

• The endocannabinoid system: What it is and why it matters

• Paul's thoughts on full-spectrum CBD vs. isolated compounds

• Why he believes CBD is a separate industry from both marijuana and industrial hemp

• Challenges with regulation and intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids (like Delta-8, HHC)

• Global perspectives on hemp vs. the U.S. approach

• Hemp’s historical context and linguistic confusion around the word "hemp"

• The scalability problem in hemp and why it's critical to solve

• The evolution of hemp plastic and the story behind the hemp harmonica

• Paul’s current work with The Hemp Plastic Company

• Technical details of making hemp plastic pellets for industrial use

• Why end markets matter more than farming alone

• Potential for hemp to scale up as a sustainable alternative in global manufacturing

• Circular economies and local empowerment in Africa

• Hemp opportunities in Thailand and Asia

• NIHC and international cooperation in the hemp industry

• Paul’s involvement with the U.S. government and COP (climate talks)

• Cannabis psychedelics: therapeutic uses and his new project

• Meditation, dance and his personal approach to mindfulness

• Reflections on the need for a new, cooperative paradigm in hemp and beyond