Unlocking the USDA Hemp Report - A Tale of Two Industries
Release Date: 05/01/2025
Sustainability Report: Does Hemp Live Up to the Hype?
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast we’re looking at hemp’s environmental promise. We’ve all heard the claim the hemp can save the planet—but what does the science really say? I talk with environmental scientist Lorelei Alvarez and strategist Joseph Carringer, co-authors of the brand-new Hemp and Sustainability Report, published by HempToday and CannaMarkets Group. Together, we dig into the evidence, the hype, and the responsibility that comes with hemp’s potential. The report breaks down hemp’s impact on carbon, soil, water, and lifecycle assessments,...
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The Hemp Waltz, Sides 5 and 6
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This is the final installment of our special Global Hemp Fiber Summit Box Set. Sides 5 and 6 wrap up our coverage from Raleigh 2025, featuring voices from across the fiber hemp industry—from seasoned pioneers to fresh perspectives. Hear updates from long-time advocates, emerging researchers, farmers, processors, and policy influencers shaping the future of American hemp textiles. Side 5: Robert Jungman Jungmaven jungmaven.com Joe Hickey – longtime hemp advocate Gabriela Fioravanti – Thomas Jefferson University – https://www.jefferson.edu/ Eric Singular – INCERT / Responsible Hemp...
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Raleigh '25, Sides 3 and 4
Industrial Hemp Podcast
Thanks for tuning in to the Hemp Show. This week we’re spinning sides 3 and 4 of our special box set recorded at the 2025 Global Industrial Hemp Fiber Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina, July 15 – 17, 2025. Side Three: Glen Kayll – CEO, The Hemp Plastic Company [00:00:51] Joseph Carringer – HempToday / CannaMarkets Group [00:06:42] Eric Henry – TS Designs [00:18:43] Andrew Bish – Bish Enterprises [00:25:08] Coleman Beale – CEO, BastCore [00:28:12] David Camby – BioPhil Natural Fibers [00:30:07] Side Four: Dave Cook – Tuscarora Mills [00:36:49] ...
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Greg Wilson and the Golden Ratio of HempWood
Industrial Hemp Podcast
We’re celebrating big news from western Kentucky — HempWood is opening their new factory on the HempWood Campus in Murray. It’s a big deal and it’s a big day. On this special HempWood episode, we catch up with Greg Wilson for a freewheeling conversation about flooring, farming, the Fibonacci sequence and the future of sustainable materials. From co-op growing systems and carbon credits to tornadoes, redneck hippies and 12-string guitar jams, this is a true journey through the World of Greg Wilson. Key Topics: • New HempWood factory grand opening • Vertical integration and farmer...
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All Things Must Hemp, 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,...
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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,...
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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....
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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,...
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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...
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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_outlineThis week on the Hemp Podcast we’re looking at the 2025 Hemp Report from the USDA. The annual report attempts to provide a snapshot of the hemp industry, which, according to the report, is valued at $445 million — up 40% from last year.
That sounds amazing, but what the numbers actually show is two completely different stories about two completely different industries: industrial hemp, i.e., fiber and grain, and floral hemp, i.e., cannabinoids, medicinal and recreational products and smokable hemp flower.
As usual, the floral side of things takes up a lot of the conversation. After all, 85% of the $445 million industry was on the floral side, and people like to see that kind of growth. But numbers on the fiber and grain side tell a much more interesting and complicated tale.
So we’re digging into the numbers, while also contemplating the existential question: Are you really a hemp farmer?
Host Eric Hurlock offers the hot take that maybe if you're in this for cannabinoid extraction — regardless of the THC content — you are not a hemp farmer. You are a cannabis grower.
Historically, the word “hemp” has meant the crop you grow for industrial purposes. However, the 2018 Farm Bill opened up a legal loophole that has had major consequences for the meaning of the word “hemp,” which has led to confusion in the industry — especially among lawmakers and regulators who continue to think hemp is essentially just low-key weed.
It’s time to reclaim the word hemp for the real hemp industry: fiber and grain. Let's call floral hemp what is is: low-THC cannabis.
Questions or comments? Leave Eric Hurlock a message: 717-721-4462
Read the report yourself: https://data.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Idaho/Publications/Census_Press_Releases/2025/HEMP.pdf
Thanks to our sponsors
Forever Green, distributors of the KP4 Hemp Cutter