NoCo 2025: Optimistic Rumors and the Battle for the Soul of the Industry
Release Date: 04/18/2025
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,...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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_outlineThe NoCo Hemp Expo wrapped up its eleventh annual event last week in Estes Park, Colorado.
The overall mood was optimistic, according to attendees, but there was an undercurrent of uncertainty and angst.
The industry stands at a crossroads. Is it too dramatic (or melodramatic) to call it the battle for the soul of the industry?
The word hemp means different things to different people, but for over a thousand years, the English word hemp meant one thing: the crop you farm at scale to produce raw materials for industry and food — ropes, sail cloth, paper, animal feed.
But now, a quarter way through the 21st Century, the definition of hemp, some would say, has expanded, leading to new opportunities, while others might say the new definition of hemp has been co-opted and pejorative.
In this episode of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, host Eric Hurlock (with co-host Sophia Kurzius) gathers insights from 12 industry leaders, farmers, processors, advocates and policy experts to examine the defining issue of our time: the meaning of the word “hemp.”
From Joy Beckerman’s impassioned plea to protect the fiber and grain future of hemp, to Chris Fontes’ nuanced defense of the cannabinoid market, this episode captures the friction and common ground shaping hemp’s next chapter.
And what's this we hear about executive orders coming soon that will redefine the hemp space even further?
Plus, why you can’t tell the story of hemp in America without talking about hemp on tribal land. Hemp is a game changer for Indigenous communities.
Hempcrete, for instance, gives the people on reservations almost immediate access to addressing their housing needs in a way that was never available to them.
"Hemp is achievable, it’s circular, and the stories I hear from people in Indigenous communities are incredibly inspiring," said host Eric Hurlock.
On this episode, you’ll hear from:
- JJ Johnson – Founder of JJGro
- Kelly Burke – Director at Kifcure
- Joe Hickey – Co-founder of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative
- Ken Meyer – Founder of Complete Hemp Processing
- Morris Beegle – Founder of NoCo Hemp Expo and WAFBA
- Joy Beckerman – Principal at Hemp Ace International
- Dionne Holmquist – Director at Makoce Agriculture Development
- Ken Elliott – Founder of IND HEMP
- Jean Lotus – Publisher of Hemp Build Magazine
- Chris Fontes – CEO of High Spirits Beverages
- U.S. Hemp Authority – Chris Fontes is President
- Andrew Bish – President of the Hemp Feed Coalition
- Bish Enterprises – COO Andrew Bish
- Greg Wilson – Founder of HempWood
Topics Covered in This Episode
- Confusion over the definition of "hemp"
- Tension between cannabinoid and industrial sectors
- Misuse of the word “hemp” for intoxicating products
- Historical meaning and etymology of the word hemp
- Short-term profit vs. long-term industry building
- Cannabinoid products dominating policy conversations
- Farmer-focused versus consumer-focused markets
- Executive order rumors and Farm Bill delays
- Regulatory clarity and safety for consumers
- Indigenous sovereignty and tribal hemp regulation
- Shifting public perception through language
- Need for strong fiber and grain infrastructure
- Caution about unchecked cannabinoid products
- GRAS status and feed approval for hemp grain
- The role of big companies (Ford, Tesla, etc.) in scaling hemp
- Climate, soil, and sustainability potential of hemp
- Integrity, transparency, and labeling standards
- Disagreements within the industry over goals and methods
- Shared values across hemp sectors despite conflicts
- The importance of unity and focusing on common ground
- Joy Beckerman’s public stance against intoxicating derivatives
- The idea of a regulatory split between floral and industrial hemp
- Hemp’s potential for rural revitalization
- Making hemp “boring” again to normalize it as a commodity
Thanks to our sponsors:
IND HEMP
National Hemp Association
Forever Green
Production and audio engineering by Lancaster Farming Audio Team:
Sophia Kurzius, Justin Berger and Eric Hurlock.
Music by Tin Bird Shadow