Mitch Galloway, Farm News Media / January 26, 2021
Industrial hemp farmer and processor Michael Klumpp is headed to Washington.
This after the USDA and U.S. Trade Representative announced Klumpp would be one of 67 people appointed to serve on agricultural trade advisory committees.
Now Klumpp of Shepherd will represent the committee for Trade in Tobacco, Cotton and Peanuts, a position he will hold until 2025. While there he will stress the importance of opening hemp markets.
“They wanted some hemp representation on this board, so they appointed me and Patrick (Atagi of the National Industrial Hemp Council),” said Klumpp, who started Ag Marvels LLC about two years ago. Since then, he’s offered interested farmers hemp seeds and starts, and built extraction and dry facilities.
Klumpp also grows about 300 acres of hemp.
“We’ve been helping farmers from day one in the hemp business — getting hemp grown, drying, processing, extracting materials, all the way through to finished products and goods,” he told Michigan Farm News.
Industrial hemp production became legal under the 2018 U.S. farm bill. This month USDA approved final rules to grow hemp, which can be sold as fiber, grain, seed, or CBD oil below the THC level of 0.3%.
According to Klumpp, the state needs to market itself better for crop success. An option is grain, said Klumpp, who is offering grain contracts to farmers.
“That’s what the hemp market is lacking — a whole supply chain,” he said. “There’s just not a supply chain built here yet. We’ve made some great connections overseas, and there’s a huge export market available for us as other countries come online.
“However, it’s extremely important we get this hemp market up and going and have a place people can move product to.”