MANHEIM, Pa. — Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding will attend a send-off event for a cross-country tour of industrial hemp farms Monday at Penn State's Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Manheim, according to the agricultural publication Lancaster Farming.
The six-week tour will travel through 25 states, making tour stops in 15, Lancaster Farming said in a press release.
The send-off event begins at 3:30 p.m.
In addition to Redding's remarks, representatives from New Holland Agriculture and the National Hemp Association will also speak to the crowd. As part of the sendoff, attendees will be able to see the hemp crop on site at the Center’s test farm.
The goal of the tour is to document the birth of the hemp industry by telling the stories of the women and men who are making it happen, Lancaster Farming said. From crop farmers who are growing fiber as a commodity to the innovative entrepreneurs and makers forging a new path, these people are imagining a new world, less dependent on petroleum and global supply chains and more focused on farms, farmers and local communities.
There’s more to hemp than CBD, the publication stated. In fact, there are thousands of uses for hemp, from paper and textiles, to houses and food. And hemp sequesters more carbon than just about anything else on the planet, so as the need for alternative sources of fiber and fuel to mitigate climate change, expect to hear about hemp.
Eric Hurlock, a hemp industry journalist and host of Lancaster Farming’s Industrial Hemp Podcast will lead the tour. At each stop, he will interview and engage with the farmers, entrepreneurs and visionaries to tell the exciting story of hemp through videos, podcasts interviews, print and digital articles, social media posts and more.
This content can be accessed at lancasterfarming.com/hemptour.
The Lancaster Farming Industrial Hemp Podcast has listeners across the world and was named a finalist in the Best Use of Audio category at the 2021 Global Media Awards presented by The International News Media Association.
Lancaster Farming, headquartered in Lancaster County, is a weekly newspaper covering all matters of importance in farming and agriculture. It is the industry-leading publication in the Mid-Atlantic region and a deeply trusted source of information for generations of farming families.
