Inaugural PA Hemp Summit Sells Out, May Become Annual Event

Team Pennsylvania, in coordination with the PA Department of Agriculture, hosted the inaugural Pennsylvania Hemp Summit at the Lancaster County Convention Center on Tuesday, October 8.

The well-attended Lancaster Farming Welcome Network Reception kicked off the event on Monday evening. Organizers anticipated attendance for the summit to be 400-450 people. However, interest far surpassed the initial projections and nearly 650 people registered. Attendees were largely from Pennsylvania (80%), but in total represented 18 states and three countries.

The event catered to the interests of a mixed audience, all of whom were interested in learning more about the crop and its opportunities, yet from different perspectives. To accommodate the variety of interests, content was developed in three tracks of Farm, Business, and Investor. During registration, attendees self-identified their track of interest, which provided slightly further insight to the demographics of the participants: 31% responded as farm, 29% as business, 4% as investor and 36% as multiple/other. The breakdown of multiple/other consisted of a wide range of answers including academia, legislators, financial institutions, non-profits, insurance, food processing, Pennsylvania state agencies and other states’ government agencies, etc.

Thirty-four speakers and forty-three vendors participated in sharing their knowledge, services and experiences with attendees.

Feedback from this year’s summit highlights a strong interest in having an annual event as an opportunity to learn, network, and grow the industry. Currently, Team Pennsylvania plans to work with the PA Department of Agriculture and industry leaders to plan an event for Fall 2020.

Team Pennsylvania would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support of the 2019 Pennsylvania Hemp Summit.