NHA members make the case for investment in hemp infrastructure to revitalize rural communities, mitigate climate change and create American manufacturing jobs.

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HempCrete and Hemp Fiber | iHemp Hour Join us in the ihemp hour and meet Dave Crabill, Blain Becktold, and Mike Brennan Featuring Rachel Berry, Jeff Cole and Eric Mckee! Visit our website for more information about iHemp Michigan and to join the cause: https://ihempmichigan.com?utm=oc This week's iHemp Hour will feature guests from Illinois and Colorado as Blain Becktold travels to Denver for the US Hemp Roundtable board meeting. Topics include Hempcrete as we prepare for a live demonstration at the Critter Barn in Zeeland, Michigan. Learn more about our live event at https://ihempmichigan.com/event/hempcrete-workshop?utm=oc 🔊 Rachel Berry is the founder and CEO of the Illinois Hemp Growers Association, a women-led benefit corporation and grassroots organization representing over 700 members. Rachel is a first-generation regenerative farmer raising poultry, growing heirloom vegetables, native medicinal plants, and industrial hemp with her family on their 13 acre homestead. Her work is dedicated to building the resources and relationships necessary to grow a sustainable and equitable Illinois hemp industry. 🔊 Eric Mckee is the Founder and CEO of Wndr LLC, a Colorado startup, whose mission is to infuse sustainability and style with economic viability. His firm is built around developing startups capable of solving industry wide bottlenecks in the industrial hemp industry. His international clientele are positioned at all parts of the supply chain from seed to retail. Eric’s deep knowledge, expertise, connections and business acumen culminated in the formation of the US Hemp Building Association. As a co-founder and Director of Strategic Development, Eric is currently facilitating the organization’s 1st year expansion, leveraging his years of experience working in the sector. A proud father of two, he is determined to lead by example and connect with influencers from across the world to help move the industrial hemp industry forward for the next generation 🔊 Jeffrey Cole is the owner and founder of US Hemp Brokerage LLC, which he established in order to become the leading professional brokerage firm in the domestic hemp markets. While Jeff formed the company in August of 2018, he has recently nurtured the firm to its official launch on November 1, 2019. He has 7 team members at US Hemp Brokerage and he is based in Boulder County, CO. _________________________________________________________________________________ Visit our website for more information about iHemp Michigan and to join the cause: https://ihempmichigan.com?utm=oc Learn more by watching past iHemp Hour shows: https://ihempmichigan.com/ihemp-hour-industrial-hemp?utm=oc #iHempMichigan #iHempHour #GoodForTheEnvironment #Hemp #HempFiber #MichiganHemp #HempHempHooray #iHempHarvest #HempCBD #CBD #HempOil #theHemperor #HempFarmer #HempGenetics #HempCanSaveThePlanet #HempField #HempLife #HempCommunity #IndustrialHemp

Rachel Berry is the Founder and CEO of the Illinois Hemp Growers Association. She is a first-generation farmer and hemp grower. Timestamps below: Start of video podcast: 00:00 What drove Rachel to start an organization? 00:46 What did Rachel's hemp organization focused on first? 03:42 What are the pain points of the IHGA members? 06:19 What is Rachel working on with the Hemp Builders Association? 07:38 Who are the people that Rachel wants to collaborate with? 09:02 Why did Rachel become a farmer? 11:52 Should hemp farmers really start small? 13:51 Land on Illinois is not cheap 21:51 How is Rachel's experience with the fibre versus grain production? 26:41 How do we get legislators to give more acres for hemp farming? 28:06 What role does hemp play in regenerative agriculture? 30:37 How do people reach out to Rachel? 31:43 What should people in the hemp industry be focusing on? 32:21 Join GHA now! 🌐https://globalhempassociation.org/join-now/ Donate to GHA 🌐https://globalhempassociation.org/donations/ 🔊Tune into the GHA Podcast: https://rebrand.ly/Moving-Forward-With-Mandi-Kerr 🌿 🌿 🌐Website: https://globalhempassociation.org/ 🇫 Facebook: https://facebook.com/globalhempassociation 📸Instagram: https://instagram.com/globalhempassociation/ 🤝LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mandikerr/ We were just joking in the background for everybody that's listening Rachel's on a farm and a storm is blowing in and so these are the joys of agriculture and real life if for some reason she logs off we're just going to turn off the camera and keep going today but yeah I'll turn it over to you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do Mandi thank you so much for having me on the show I'm so excited to be here today to get to know you a little bit better and to you know be working with you know everyone who's joining in thank you so much yeah I'm Rachel Berry I'm the CEO and founder of the Illinois hemp growers association I'm a first generation farmer I also work with the USHBA the US hemp building association and I work locally with the Illinois stewardship alliance too okay so I've got a question like I being in a role that started hemp association and sometimes I think what the heck am I thinking what was your passion what drove you to dive in to starting an organization yeah that's a great question well before I started the IHGA you know I guess I could back up just a little bit further than that I was not like I mentioned I'm a first generation farmer so I was not born on a farm I didn't grow up in a farming community I grew up um in the suburbs of Chicago actually so I moved out to a farm about 10 years ago now and as I was kind of acclimating to farm life getting my hands in the soil learning how to grow food I was also heavily invested in just getting to know my community and volunteering so I worked with a couple non-for-profits before you know working on the farm working not-for-profit and as I was growing and and just you know getting more acquainted with regenerative ag and permaculture and and you know just growing plants and in a more regenerative way I came upon hemp and just knew that I this is the plant for me this is the crop for me where I live in some north central Illinois there's a lot of corn and soy I have a little over 13 acres that was grown corn and soy for many years before I took on the farm and I knew I didn't want to be that type of farmer which is great and useful as it's not for me so when i learned about hemp and being able to integrate hemp into what I was doing I was all about it and with that that background of the non-for-profit work that I was doing that really just fueled like okay here's the next best thing super passionate about it you know I love to learn and so I'm always you know picking up books at the library and like I said engaging in community learning new things but hemp just it was just a huge kick open the door love of learning for me and I just knew I have to take this further and just one little part of that story which I think is really interesting I was doing some you know community work hosting little hemp education nights in my community and it made it to the paper to local paper and I was actually kind of scouted by the Illinois small business development center a director saw me in the paper and was like hey you know what's going on with hemp I want to have you in here you need to start a business you know I've been watching you for a while let's come into the office and we'll talk about it and and that's where the IHGA was born in that office what are we going to do how are we going to move things forward let's let's start an association and then funny story too to add to that the yeah exactly and the woman um that was helping me her name is Stacy Mccaskill she she quit her job and is now a hemp farmer so yeah yeah it was a lot of synchronicity there for her too an #farming #farmingleader #farminglife #farmingland #farmer #farmerslife #hempcommunity

The law was signed at the end of August