Spinning a Budding Industry

Abstract: The 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized industrial hemp in the United States following four years of state and tribal pilot programs. Industry actors have since been building a hemp industry from the ground up and have been met with many trials and tribulations that have been due to red tape policies, a lack of infrastructure, and broken supply chains. The weakest point in the supply chain is the processing stage as farmers and manufacturers have other crops and materials to choose from while processors exist almost exclusively for the purpose of the hemp industry. This thesis was designed to uncover the reality that farmers, processors, and manufacturers face in developing domestic hemp fiber supply chains through discussions with industry actors in those occupations. The findings from these discussions were then analyzed through the lens of transition theory and the multi-level perspective. It has been determined that the hemp industry is not yet sufficiently developed in the United States to be a regime due to hindrances in regulations and the availability of processing equipment. The hindrances are holding the industry back from sufficiently developing the myriad of niche innovations that hold potential to transform the textile industry, the building and construction industry, and the pulp and paper industry. The trials and tribulations of building an industry from the ground up are many but there are as many amazing initiatives taking place from actors inside and outside of the industry that want to see industrial hemp become the crop that they believe it can be.