 My name is Sarah Stevens and I have been growing industrial hemp since 2019. That was the first year that you could grow in Kansas. And I have two Sarah grants that I'm going to talk about that were from 2021 and 2022. But before we dive into the grants, I think it is important to understand that the prohibition of agricultural hemp has created about 80 years of gap in understanding of how to grow how to process. And then of course, the any chemicals are, there's no, no chemicals labeled for hemp still today. So there's really a lot of tools that are lacking, including genetic development for agricultural hemp. And I define agricultural hemp as being grown for fiber and grain. I did in 2019 and 2020 the first two years that you could grow. My license was for CBD production. And so that was in a metal building. We had a hydroponic growing system and artificial lights. And I was going to events and there was real farmers is what I call traditional row crop farmers, which I am not. They were there and they were trying to grow CBD outside CBD varieties outside and talking about walking their fields for pulling out males and I just, you know, was seeing this was not really the right fit for a guy that normally grows corn or soybeans. And so I started digging into what that that side of the hemp plant looks like and that's where the Sarah Grant came in. I guess, in addition to the historical prohibition that's listed there, a more recent history, the 2014 Farm Bill authorized the research program that eventually rolled out in 2019 in Kansas and most other states. And then the 2018 Farm Bill authorized the commercial production of agricultural of all of all hemp. And there's really been a turn, not just in Kansas, but most states where about 80% of growers initially were growing for CBD and today that's more like 7030 focus on fiber and grain. So in 29, I'm sorry 2020 we researched, excuse me 2021 we researched five different fields across Kansas. We had six different varieties we had about a month long planting window when the first farmer planted to the last one. And we studied the different, you know, weather patterns and pest pressures and holy we had almost no success in 2021 I had one three acre section that was good. Everything else suffered from probably lack of knowledge, mostly, but also genetics that weren't a good fit planting too late in the year drought too much rain at one time where it would crust over and we would get poor germination. So in 2022 we took what did work and we grew just two varieties. So the ones that performed at all in 2021 we started growing those exclusively in 2022 we tried to apply the lessons that we learned in the first farmer rancher grant from Sarah and narrow in our planting window. We applied the techniques that we're working through the 21 grant we wrote a planting guide that you can download for free on the Kansas him consortium website we also have webinars there that we hosted in conjunction with the Sarah grant. We brought in the Kansas Department of Agriculture processors producers there's a lot of information on those webinars those all came as a result of the grant. So 2022 that this is in Manhattan Kansas this field here. I think combined these two sections were close to 50 acres it was really beautiful stand. This is new West genetics which is a Colorado company and really the only domestically bred fiber grain grain focus varieties that you can buy today we've bought seed from Ukraine, Canada. In the Chinese seed in Kansas that's more on the fiber side we're grain focus so we haven't done growing any of the Chinese varieties but they're also pretty prevalent because China is never stopped growing hemp like the United States. So 22 are five. We had one different but mostly the same group of farmers that we did in 2021. And what we learned there the Western Kansas is very dry and the drought conditions there just there was no no good production. And Pratt Community College. It was really cool experience they brought their students out their ag and the economy class came throughout the season but at harvest to. They had a pretty decent 10 acres out there. That's the Manhattan field that I showed you the aerials from that was the best performing field both years and Manhattan is in central north north central Kansas, and has pretty good weather weather compared to Western Kansas more rain and not nearly as hot. And then Leon Kansas is close to where I live and work are we have an agricultural hemp processing facility in Augusta Kansas, and that there was 10 acres there. Good stand got all the way to the harvest, and all the seeds were black and dead inside and so they had dried up from best conclusion that we had of what happened to them, but there was like a 1% germination or viability in the seeds that we collected out of that field so there's been quite a bit of heartbreak in the hemp world. There's a lot to learn and the Sarah grants have really, I think made possible the momentum in Kansas that really wouldn't would not otherwise be there. So those were the 21 seasons and then the 22 seasons were grant funded research the 23 last year. We also grew probably about half of those same fields are still participating and seeing better and better results. This year, the, we got good stands good fields. And then you get to the point of harvest and I had two farmers who one tore up their combine and the other just gave up and went to swathing and sickle barring it because it's really a big. Tensile strength high tensile strength fiber and it is hard on a combine it wraps. And if you want to get the grain out you need to combine it and then you need to dry it in a grain bin, which is another piece of equipment that's pretty sparse on Kansas farms. And so, you know, we've gotten to the successful harvest and now we have new problems to solve with the machinery at that harvest to make the grain collection viable, but we're we're meeting those challenges and you know it's good to get to the point of having a good stand that that is your challenge instead of just pig weeds took over or drought killed it earlier in the year. These are the Kansas numbers and I think they pretty the trend closely mirrors a lot of states where we had 200 plus growers in those first two years. Those are almost all like I said earlier fiber excuse me CBD focused, and then you come down and see the licensed planted and harvested acres so 2019 Kansas has 5,800 acres licensed. This year, we're down last year 23 down to 900 acres, and we're down to 40 growers. So a lot of that is the shakeout of the CBD growers, but a lot of it is just frustration, and then our growers fee our production fee in Kansas is around $1,700, and you still have to get background checks and fingerprints to grow an outdoor row crop. And so we're really working hard on the advocacy to change that and about eight states have now just there including Missouri. Your hemp program is run through the USDA. So if you want to grow hemp in Missouri, it's a $25 fee. That is for your fingerprints it goes to the USDA and it's a three year license from what I understand so you can see that that would be a more encouraging environment for a producer than what currently exists in Kansas. So we're as a member of the planted association in Kansas for him. So I think we're going to begin advocating this year. We've been trying to just lower the fee for several years, but we're not getting the KDA to jump on board with that. So we're just going to start advocating for moving to USDA and I think a lot of other states are to where we can hopefully get him grains into into the traditional commodity market and start to see it be treated like corn and soybeans and wheat. I hope that you guys already I'm not going to spend time talking about the environmental benefits of him, but it's very good for the air and for the soil. And if you are interested in supporting it, I would be very happy to talk to have some flyers here that show the products that we make out of hemp. If you're interested in growing hemp, I have some information on that. And if you're just interested in supporting the industry, there's several consumer ready products that are grown in the United States, processed manufactured in the United States includes the hemp wool insulation, the hemp wood flooring. At Midwestern technology, we make the hemp seed oil and the hemp protein powder. We are doing some experimenting with hemp biochar. The herd is just the woody core of the plant and people use that for animal bedding. It also really recently was approved as a insulation when you mix it with a line binder for residential homes. So the future is bright, even though there are still some regulatory burdens in the way for agricultural hemp. I do think it's headed in the right direction and there's always something that everybody can do to help support the industry if you're interested. Those are some of the pictures of the products that are available. And this slide, it's really just sort of breaking down the uses. So what people use the fiber for it has value in the bio plastics pulping. We at Midwest are focused on the grain so we only make short strand fiber, but long strand fiber is what would make textiles and ropes and that's still largely produced in China. The hemp grains, I want to wrap up talking about that it's really an exciting area of opportunity hemp grains are about 30% protein out of a field estimates should be between 1000 and 1400 pounds of grain an acre. And it is on the verge of being approved as a hemp seed meal is on the verge of being approved as an ingredient for laying hens. That process has taken about three years and quite a lot of money for the hemp feed coalition to advocate for. So even though I feed my kids and protein powder today you're not supposed to be feeding it to your chickens, because it hasn't gone all the way through the process but that is anticipated for the end of January. This year for hemp seed meal to be approved for laying hens so it's really exciting and I think once that domino falls, you'll start to see hemp seed meal incorporated in a lot of animal feed. Hi, this my Sarah grant number if you want to look it up or you're welcome to contact me again happy to talk after we wrap up about any of the products that are up here or questions that you might have. I appreciate you all being here today.