top of page
Writer's pictureIHGA

March Hemp Madness!


Chris Berry doing the Introduction to Hemp in Illinois in Freeport on March 12th

We are pleased to bring you another update on our latest events and more. On March 12th, we attended the Hemp Production Workshop hosted by the University of Illinois Extension and moderated by Phillip Alberti. The webinars from the event are now available on the U of I Extension website.

Bryan, Liz, Rob and Chris being blocked by a guy's head. Not pictured: Steve Tomlins
Here's a shot of the panel during Q&A from the NPR article written by Susan Stevens.

It was an impressive turnout of well over 100 and a remarkably comprehensive and informative event for everyone in attendance. I was proud to present our introduction to hemp in Illinois, check it out on youtube along with all the other great content from each presenter.


I'd like to give a shout out to Steve Tomlins from Turtle Creek Gardens in Wisconsin for giving a great closing presentation, nice job Steve. And of course a huge thank you to Phillip Alberti for moderating the event and producing the awesome content, you rock Phillip! And to Stacy McCaskill from the SBDC for giving me such a wonderful introduction, thank you so much Stacy.

 

On March 19th, the IHGA attended the Industrial Hemp Seminar in Cantrall, IL hosted by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance and Rolling Meadows Brewery. This event reached it's limit for capacity quickly with a crowd of over 80. Rolling Meadows Brewery is a beautiful location to host events, and our hosts were very welcoming.


Chris at Rolling Meadows Brewery, March 19th

Speakers at this seminar were from all around the top hemp producing states in the US, including Colorado and Kentucky. Potential growers and processors in the attendance were treated to a plethora of information on hemp flower and CBD. I presented our introduction to hemp in Illinois and gave a short presentation on fiber. Rachel gave a presentation on hemp construction.


We both had Stuart Herman from CBD Apothecary as a special guest during our presentations, thank you Stuart, you helped make our presentations memorable and special. A special thanks goes out to Liz Rupel from the Illinois Stewardship Alliance for moderating, coordinating, and presenting during this event - Liz, you nailed it!

 

On March 22nd, Rachel attended the goodfoodEXPO at the UIC Forum in Chicago. This was an event that showcased much more than just hemp. A massive crowd gathered at the Forum to explore all things food related.

Rachel being interviewed about Hemp on the Mike Nowak Show

Rachel was proud to be a part of the Hemp Renaissance Panel moderated by Liz Rupel from the ISA. The focus of the panel was to introduce the crowd to the concept of hemp and what it can do not only for our food systems but for our environment as well. People were very interested in incorporating CBD into their cooking!


Rachel was also interviewed for the second time by the Mike Nowak Show during the event. Check out the whole interview on video on their facebook page!

 

It's been an incredible month for the IHGA and for hemp in Illinois. Now I'm going to fly out to Colorado tomorrow for the NoCo Hemp Expo. I won't be presenting anything, but I will be making some new contacts that can help us improve hemp here in Illinois. After that it's full steam ahead back in Illinois, with a number of things already scheduled in early April. We've also got the second version of the rules from the IDOA to discuss. Look for more updates coming soon!


Comments


bottom of page