In Search Of: A Pennsylvania Hemp Textile Supply Chain
Release Date: 09/05/2025
Inside the Trojan Horse of Intoxicating Hemp
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This week on the Hemp Podcast, we have a long conversation about hemp-derived intoxicating cannabinoids with Chris Fontes, president of the U.S. Hemp Authority and founder of Trojan Horse Cannabis and High Spirits Beverages. Trojan Horse Cannabis was the first company to bring so-called intoxicating hemp derivatives to market, changing the hemp space forever. For decades, hemp advocates said hemp was different from marijuana because hemp couldn’t get you high. But the 2018 Farm Bill created the perfect conditions for the birth of a whole new chapter in the story of hemp. Fontes said when he...
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Spring Hemp Preview: Webinars, Short Courses, and Conferences
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This week on the Industrial Hemp Podcast, host Eric Hurlock is joined by Lancaster Farming staff reporter Dan Sullivan to talk about one Pennsylvania farmer’s decision that’s captured national attention. Farmer Mervin Raudabaugh Jr. in development money to preserve his Cumberland County farm for future generations. Sullivan explains how he found the story, why it resonated with people in and out of agriculture and what it says about the challenges farmers face regarding preserving their land. From there the show turns to upcoming events for the hemp community in the next few...
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Hemp in Pennsylvania: Commodity Crop or Shadow Cannabis Market?
Industrial Hemp Podcast
We’re back. Season 9 of the Hemp Show is here. In this season opener of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we'll take you inside a hearing organized by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania that was meant to explain the hemp industry to state lawmakers — and ended up revealing something else entirely. The original intent of hemp in the Farm Bill was about agriculture and manufacturing, but the conversation has been dominated by intoxicating cannabinoids, chemical definitions and law enforcement concerns. This episode weaves together testimony from regulators, business owners...
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Hemp in 2025: Cliff Hangers, Course Corrections and Community
Industrial Hemp Podcast
2025 was a year of uncertainty, contradiction and recalibration for the hemp industry. In this year-end episode of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, host Eric Hurlock looks back on a season defined by policy whiplash, shifting definitions and hard conversations about what hemp is — and what it is not. From rumors of executive action and the collapse of intoxicating hemp loopholes to the rescheduling of marijuana and its ripple effects across agriculture, the year ended with more questions than answers. The episode revisits key voices from across the hemp landscape —...
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In the Hemp Studio with Farmer Steve Groff
Industrial Hemp Podcast
We have a special in-studio guest this week on the Industrial Hemp Show. Steve Groff, third-generation Lancaster County farmer and hemp innovator from Holtwood, Pennsylvania, stopped by the Hemp Studio at the Lancaster Farming Office in Ephrata. We talked about machinery, long fiber, seed spacing, planter design and why farmer economics need to make sense if this industry is ever going to scale. “Farmers are gonna have to get 10 or 20% more profit per acre for this hemp out the gate,” he said. We also talked about the green decorticator he’s been working on. And when we got back from...
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A Necessary Correction: Jeremy Klettke on Hemp, Policy, and Responsibility
Industrial Hemp Podcast
As we move into the Thanksgiving holiday here at Lancaster Farming, I am reminded again how fortunate I am for the people in my life. Yes, of course I mean my family, friends and coworkers, but I also mean the people who are in my life because of this hemp podcast. Over the past nearly 8 years of making this show, I have met truly inspiring people whose wisdom, insight and perspective have shaped my own view. One of these people is Jeremy Klettke from Davis Hemp Farms. I will periodically call Jeremy for guidance and to help me make sense of the world of hemp and cannabis. After the recent...
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The Sky Has Not Fallen on Industrial Hemp
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we take a close look at the biggest federal hemp policy shift since the 2018 Farm Bill and what it means for the industry. Our guests on the show are Danielle Bernstein of Laurelcrest and Morgan Tweet of IND HEMP. Bernstein brings the perspective of a cannabinoid ingredient manufacturer working inside global supply chains, regulatory systems and the emerging non-alcoholic THC beverage and wellness markets. Tweet represents the fiber and grain sector, where this new language marks the first time the federal government has formally...
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CBD Farmer & Hemp Builder React to New Federal Hemp Definition
Industrial Hemp Podcast
Congress changed the definition of hemp this week, clarifying the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill and closing the intoxicating-hemp loophole that enabled a nationwide market of unregulated semi-synthetic THC products. The change caps finished hemp products at 0.4 mg total THC per package, bans synthetic cannabinoids, protects legal CBD and fiber/grain hemp, and gives farmers a one-year implementation window. What does this mean for the hemp industry? How will it affect farmers? How will affect the hemp industry? On this special episode of The Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast,...
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Code, Carbon and Hemp-Lime Construction with Jake Waddell
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This week on the Hemp Show, we're talking to Jake Waddell from the Hemp Building Institute about the future of hemp construction, building codes and embodied carbon. Hemp-lime construction has come a long way — from early experiments in a garage to an officially recognized building material in the International Residential Code. Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs, are changing how sustainability is measured in construction and what that means for hemp-based materials. And even when government funding for climate-forward projects gets cut, the people driving this industry keep...
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Oh, For The Love of Farming...
Industrial Hemp Podcast
This special edition of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast celebrates the , which has been reporting on agriculture since 1955. Recorded at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days, this episode is a love letter to farming and to the people who make it possible. Farmers and ag leaders reflect on why they farm, what’s changed, and what remains timeless — love of land, faith, family, and devotion. Here's a quote from Wendell Berry that frames the conversation: “Why do farmers farm, given their economic adversities on top of the many frustrations and difficulties normal to farming? And...
info_outlineThis week on the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, we’re chasing down the beginnings of a Pennsylvania hemp fiber supply chain.
We start the day in southern Lancaster County at Steve Groff’s farm, standing in the middle of what he calls his “hemp canyon,” with towering stalks over fifteen feet tall.
Groff has about 60 acres of the Australian hemp variety MS-77, which seems to do well on Groff's farm.
He's also working on a green decorticator. If the machine works as planned, it could change the way fiber hemp is harvested — cleaner, faster and without the need for retting.
From there we cross the Susquehanna River into York County to visit Dave Cook at Tuscarora Mills in Red Lion. Dave and his partner Heidi Custer are working to turn Pennsylvania-grown hemp into yarn and fabric.
Their mill is full of antique looms and their goal is simple but ambitious: To revive textile production here in the Keystone State using local hemp fiber.
It’s still early days for a Pennsylvania supply chain, but the work Groff and Cook are doing points toward a future where hemp textiles are grown, processed and woven right here at home.
Learn More:
Steve Groff:
https://stevegroff.com/
Dave Cook and Tuscarora Mills:
https://tuscaroramills.com/
News Nuggets, from HempToday.net
Peru opens draft hemp rules for consultation as industry eyes long-awaited start
https://hemptoday.net/peru-opens-draft-hemp-rules-for-consultation-as-industry-eyes-long-awaited-start/
Draft hemp bill would regulate intoxicating products instead of imposing a ban
https://hemptoday.net/draft-hemp-bill-would-regulate-intoxicating-products-instead-of-imposing-a-ban/
Stakeholders fear Brazil hemp rules may be restricted as Sept. 30 deadline nears
https://hemptoday.net/stakeholders-fear-brazil-hemp-rules-may-be-restricted-as-sept-30-deadline-nears/
Brazil’s CBD price war, a boon for patients, signals maturing medical market
https://hemptoday.net/brazils-cbd-price-war-a-boon-for-patients-signals-maturing-medical-market/
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