If you’ve visited the Farm Show in the past 15 years, you may have met a man who was ahead of his time.
For years, Shawn House talked to anyone who would listen about the potential of industrial hemp, but only recently have farmers been permitted to grow the crop in the United States.
House has helped educate the public on the benefits and uses of true Cannabis hemp through advocacy and marketing his unique line of hemp foods. As CEO of the Lancaster Trading House Inc., his list of items includes mustard, hemp flour, HEMPeanut butter, Hemp jam, Granola Bars, Nut-less Hemp Spread and the popular hemp pretzels, or Hempzels, a hempseed-flour-oil based soft pretzel, that he promoted to get a spot at the PA Farm Show beginning in 2005.
Entrepreneurial Challenges
You could call House an “early adopter” when it comes to embracing the unorthodox. He started his hemp business in the early ‘90s, leaving his full-time job in 1997 and launching his website in 1999. Early challenges included educating the public on the benefit of hempseed. “Few were aware that hempseed is rich in vitamins, Essential Fatty Acids, plant protein and fiber,” said House, adding that his soft pretzels have double the protein of a typical soft pretzel.