Advancing Hemp 2021

John Kempf, Advancing Eco Agriculture

John Kempf is a leading crop health consultant and designer of innovative soil and plant management systems. John is co-founder of Ozadia Plant Science and the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture, a crop nutrition consulting company.

John Kempf grew up on a fruit and vegetable farm in northeastern Ohio and experienced first-hand the challenges faced by crop producers everywhere. He began seeking to understand the underlying causes of disease and insect pressure on crops. Learning from many leaders in the field of crop consulting and plant health, John began building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition, solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology.

John is an internationally-recognized teacher on the topic of biological agriculture and plant immunity.

Gary Reding, Cascades Consulting, LLC

Gary Reding is a plant and soil health specialist whose 40+ years of agricultural experience started after graduating from Purdue University in 1978 when he owned and operated Langeland Farms, Inc. for 31 years in SE Indiana. He farmed a diversified food-grain, seed and livestock farm which he transitioned from conventional to organic in 2000.

He was a consultant for Advancing Eco Agriculture, LLC (John Kempf) for four years and worked with farms in 10 states and Ontario, Canada. In 2016, he went to Denver, CO to become the Chief Cultivation Officer of a 24,000 sq. ft. marijuana facility that he managed for over two years before becoming an independent consultant.

Gary formed Cascades Consulting, LLC in January 2019 and has been working for many types of farms including marijuana, hemp, fruits/vegetable and grains. He uses sap analysis extensively and has been doing so since the technology came to the USA in 2013. He uses sound science to measure, monitor and adjust all aspects that impact soil and plant health, including the trace elements that are critical to cannabinoid production. Hemp and cannabis are his favorite crops to work with as they respond so well to proper management.

Raymond French

Ray has a family history in agriculture and farming.  He is a published author and has travelled around the world working with some of the largest and smallest plant breeders on the planet to bring improvements and innovation to the horticulture and cannabis markets.  His expertise in plant breeding, large scale production, and market leadership for over 16 years helped lead The Home Depot in the US and Canada to year over year growth of their live goods division selling over 1 billion dollars and plants per year. He has managed some of the top ornamental and vegetable producers as well as directed cannabis breeding and production for the last two years.  He was a scoring judge for MMJ for KPMG working on the program for the state of Florida and became the SVP for Front Range Biosciences producing millions of cannabis seeds and clones for both high THC cannabis and hemp markets. He has visited many cannabis farms over the years and managed trial programs and created and produced game changing genetics.  Ray has the experience and understanding on how genetics and input types affect yield and overall results for CEA growers and outdoor farmers.

Ray currently works as COO for Motherlode Holdings which is raising money for large scale marketing and production of food and cannabis crops.  He is part owner of Enrichment Systems which is manufacturing dissolved oxygen nanobubble injectors to improve crop growth and health. Ray is also available for consulting and is a managing director for Aligned Distributing.

Ray will be focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of clones vs. seed inputs and an overview of realistic expectations for current hemp genetics regarding cannabinoid production.

Whitney Cranshaw

Dr. Whitney Cranshaw is a Emeritus Professor and Extension Specialist at Colorado State University, responsible for developing pest management programs for vegetables, shade trees, turfgrass and specialty crops, like hemp. He is the author of two books, Pests of the West and Bagging Big Bugs.

Kristen Nichols, Hemp Industry Daily editor

Kristen is a Denver-based reporter for Marijuana Business Daily specializing in the hemp and CBD industries. She also serves as the editor of the Marijuana Business Daily’s sister publication Hemp Industry Daily. Previously, she worked at the Associated Press for nearly 20 years. She started covering the marijuana legalization movement in 2009 – when medical stores started popping up around Denver – and wrote about the state’s first legal hemp harvest. Kristen also covered agriculture and politics in Maryland and her home state of Georgia.

Gary Chavez, Santa Fe Farms

Gary Chavez is a farmer and member of the Board of Directors at Santa Fe Farms. Product development, innovation and compliance at Santa Fe Farms are the responsibility of Gary Chavez, who brings academic experience in chemical engineering and clinical bio-science research at New Mexico State University. Gary’s agronomy studies were uniquely specialized with regards to agricultural applications of microalgae.

Kyle Bingham, Bingham Family Organics

Kyle Bingham is a fourth generation farmer in Terry county. He currently works with his family farm, working 2000 acres of certified organic land with experience growing hemp, cotton, peanuts, black eyed peas, and many other niche crops.