The Grain and Fiber Side of the Industry

Dec 9, 2021 | iHemp Hour

eric hurlock

The Grain and Fiber Side of the Industry

On this episode of the iHemp Hour, Dave Crabill and Blain Becktold welcome Eric Hurlock, host of the Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast, musician, writer, and one of the most respected journalists covering the U.S. hemp revival.

In 2021, Eric took on a challenge most of us only dream about—packing his wife and two daughters into a 31-foot RV and traveling 10,000 miles across America to document the rebirth of industrial hemp. What began as a podcast project became a once-in-a-lifetime adventure filled with blown tires, wildfire skies, salt-of-the-earth farmers, and some of the most important fiber and grain hemp operations in the country.

This episode brings that entire journey to life.

🚐 Why Take the Trip? The Mission Behind the Miles

Before the Farm Bill, PA hemp was mostly academic. After legalization, Pennsylvania—like many states—went all-in on cannabinoids. But Eric saw something bigger coming:

“The real potential is in fiber and grain. We have to build everything we can out of hemp.”

Inspired by conversations with IND Hemp in Montana, Eric pitched the idea of a cross-country reporting trip to his newspaper, raised sponsorships, rented an RV, and committed his family to six weeks on the road documenting the real supply chain being built in the U.S.

🛠️ Stop #1 — Kentucky: HempWood & Victory Hemp Foods

HempWood – Murray, KY

Eric’s first major stop was HempWood, where founder Greg Wilson walked him through the carbon-neutral factory turning American fiber hemp into flooring, cabinetry, cutting boards, guitars, and decorative lumber.

“You take hemp, add glue, and press it into boards—that’s it,” Greg says, although the engineering behind it is anything but simple.

HempWood’s model proves that hemp-based manufacturing can be local, sustainable, and economically competitive.

Victory Hemp Foods – Carrollton, KY

Next, Eric toured Chad Rosen’s Victory Hemp Foods, a high-quality processor of hemp hearts, protein, and oil. Victory’s mission is to supply major food brands and build the market for American-grown, traceable hemp grain.

Grain hemp remains tangled in regulatory hurdles—especially for livestock feed—but companies like Victory are paving the way.

🌾 Stop #2 — Kansas: South Bend Industrial Hemp

Eric then headed to South Bend Industrial Hemp, run by Melissa, Aaron, and Rich Baldwin, who installed a Formation Ag decorticator to kick-start a local fiber supply chain.

For the first time, Kansas farmers could grow a hemp crop and actually have:

  • A place to take it

  • A processor ready to buy

  • A local ecosystem forming around them

When Eric arrived, he walked into an open house with 100+ attendees, vendors, and farmers—from the Bish Brothers to local ag leaders. Kansas is quickly becoming a fiber hub.

🏔️ Stop #3 — Colorado: Equipment Innovators & Hemp Guitars

In Colorado, Eric visited:

Silver Mountain Hemp Guitars – Fort Collins

Hemp guitars built with HempWood bodies—yes, they really go to 11.

New West Genetics – Fort Collins

CEO Wendy Mosher showed Eric their advanced breeding of optimized grain, fiber, and cannabinoid cultivars. Wendy predicts hemp grain could reach 20+ million U.S. acres by 2028 once infrastructure and feed approval catch up.

Formation Ag – Monte Vista, CO

Eric toured the factory that builds some of America’s leading hemp harvesting and decortication machinery. Corbett Hefner’s team even changed the oil on the RV—just another example of the kindness Eric found everywhere in the hemp community.

🌲🔥 The Wildfire Gauntlet: Utah to California

With most of the West on fire and smoke blotting out the Rocky Mountains, Eric navigated the RV carefully into California and then north through Oregon.

🥗 Stop #4 — Oregon: Hemp Grain for Food

At Queen of Hearts and Hemp Northwest, Eric learned how grain processors operate in a cannabinoid-dominated region. They specialize in hemp hearts, salad dressings, oil, and other food products—often sourcing their grain from Montana to avoid pollen disputes with THC growers.

🎋 Stop #5 — Washington & Oregon: Tribal Partnerships & Fiber Hemp

In Pendleton, Oregon, Eric met farmers growing hemp just outside the Umatilla Reservation to demonstrate to tribal leadership that hemp is safe, legal, and economically valuable. Their long-term goal: tribal hempcrete homes and tribal fiber production.

Nearby in Washington, Eric stood in a stunning 80-acre hemp field in the fertile Palouse region—one of America’s best grain-growing environments.

🐎 Stop #6 — Montana: A Historic Hemp Summit

The heart of the journey was Fort Benton, Montana, home to IND Hemp.

IND Hemp gathered:

  • New Holland ag engineers

  • Processors

  • Geneticists

  • HempWood leadership

  • Farmers

  • Supply-chain experts

  • Hemp builders

  • Equipment manufacturers

Together, they toured fields, examined pivot-irrigated fiber stands, reviewed dryland grain challenges, and held roundtable discussions on the future of fiber and grain hemp.

Eric described the moment like this:

“It felt historic. In ten years we’ll look back and say this is where the fiber industry really took off.”

Key themes:

  • Fiber & grain need separate regulation from cannabinoids

  • Farmers must be protected from predatory contracting

  • America needs hundreds of regional decortication facilities

  • The industry must unify its advocacy efforts

  • Small rural towns will revive around hemp processing

IND Hemp’s massive Laroche decortication system—now running—will soon process 5 tons of hemp per hour.

🧱 Stop #7 — South Dakota: Hempcrete Builds & Seed Production

Eric then met:

  • Jeremy Briggs, who helped build one of the first hempcrete music venues/studios in the world

  • Horizon Hemp Seeds, producing certified grain cultivars in massive South Dakota fields

Hempcrete continues to gain momentum as a clean, non-toxic, fireproof building material—especially with new spray-on systems from U.S. builders.

🏡 Final Stop — Pennsylvania: Hempcrete Housing for Revitalization

The last stop was close to home: New Castle, PA, where DON Services is demonstrating a model for community hemp revitalization:

  • Grow hemp

  • Turn it into hempcrete & flooring

  • Rebuild blighted houses

  • Create local jobs

Their model has the attention of developers, the state, and hempwood manufacturers.

❤️ The Bigger Story: An Industry Built on Kindness & Cooperation

Eric’s family saw the best of America:

  • Hospitality

  • Collaboration

  • Innovation

  • Farmers helping farmers

  • Processors helping competitors

  • Businesses sharing knowledge freely

This spirit is why hemp continues to advance even during regulatory gridlock.

🎤 Where to Follow Eric Hurlock

  • Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast
    (Search “hemp” on Spotify, Apple, Google, or YouTube)

  • Email: podcast@lancasterfarming.com

  • Web: lancasterfarming.com

Eric has now published more than 170 hemp-focused episodes featuring farmers, innovators, builders, geneticists, processors, inventors, and policymakers.