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GROWKS Features Hemp Casita Collaboration

The Hemp Casita project is a collaboration between K-State 105, Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures, GROWKS Equity Programs, the K-State School of Architecture, and Midwest Hemp Technology, LLC.

Kansas hemp industry plans to continue talks on legalizing hemp in animal feed

Feed strategy

The Kansas House of Representatives introduced and held committee hearings on HB 2168, a bill to authorize hemp in livestock feed and pet food, in mid-March. However, the Kansas Department of Agriculture opposed the bill, which does not seem likely to move any further in the legislative process this year, according to Sarah Stephens, CEO of hemp grain processor Midwest Hemp Technologies and one of the bill’s backers.

Stephens said proponents of the bill plan to continue to engage in stakeholder meetings in hopes of running a compromise bill next year that might win over the support of the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), which has agreed to meet with industry stakeholders this summer.

harvest time for hemp in kansas shows GROWING INterest in hemp fiber production

KSN

Kansas hemp processing companies are taking the approach “if you build it, they will come.”

“I think industrial hemp is headed in the right direction on the fiber and grain side,” said Sarah Stephens with Midwest Hemp Technology of Augusta.

Stephens says interest in growing hemp in Kansas for oils has dropped. In fact, new license requests for growing hemp for oil has come down dramatically in Kansas since the crop was legalized for growing in 2019.

“But the fiber side just has so many benefits. We are showing a lot of interest,” said Stephens. “The seed that we grow is high protein, high in fiber, and it’s a complete source of nutrition. It has a lot of health food benefits.”

NetWork Kansas unit now holds stake in growing Augusta hemp tech company

Wichita business journal

"Midwest Hemp Technology is well positioned to grow with the burgeoning agricultural hemp industry," Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures president Trish Brasted said.

Founded in 2018, Midwest Hemp Technology purchases locally grown hemp from Kansas farmers and processes it for industrial purposes, including in food and manufacturing.

Entrepreneurial Growth Ventures' mission centers on building and enhancing resources to boost the capacity and support for growing, innovative entrepreneurs in the state.

KSU Students Build Hemp Casita to Show Off Building Materials

Hemp build magazine

Graduate students at Kansas State University constructed a small demonstration portable hemp structure that will be displayed around the state to show the industrial potential of building materials made of hemp.

“We started off the semester passing around a bag of hemp hearts (raw edible hemp seeds) so that the students understood the full range of possibilities with hemp, in other words that it isn't just like wood or other natural fiber materials,” Gibson wrote. “[Hemp’s] value as human and animal nutrition, in the CBD industry, and making industrial fibers was an important starting point to understanding why we should be using it more in buildings,” he added.

Hemp hurd for the hemp-lime walls was provided, as it was last year, by Augusta, KS-based Midwest Hemp Technology. Hempitecture and HempWood donated batts and flooring, respectively.

Midwest Hemp Technology Brings More Processing Power to Kansas

Lancaster farming hemp podcast

On this week’s hemp podcast, we talk to Sarah Stephens, CEO of Midwest Hemp Technology, a hemp processing company in Augusta, Kansas, that contracts local farmers to grow hemp grain and fiber to produce hemp seed food and oil, as well as long-strand fiber.

Stephens’ journey into hemp started with CBD, but she realized that the potential for long-term growth was on the fiber and grain side, especially in Kansas with it’s ample farmland and existing agriculture infrastructure.