Fiber Industry Wants to Attract More Farmers

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

With some commodities, more players in the market can cause some tension within the industry, but not in the world of natural fibers. Fourth-generation sheep farmer Paul Ensor says in talking with other wool producers and hemp farmers, more players are welcomed.

Ensor... "In the natural fiber part of the world, you know, in the clothing industry, it's such a small component that I think the more people that are singing about wool and, you know, natural fibers, the better from everyone's perspective, we all benefit. But then, you know, the other part of your question is really around, you know, other people coming in with the Hemprino blend as well. So it's not something you can patent because basically, it's an 80, 20 blend, for instance. I guess we, the secret sauce is the type of wool and the type of hemp we're using and the processing that goes on prior to that, but we can't patent that cause someone could come in, you know, with an 81, 19 percent blend, you know, so there's, there's no real point in doing that. So that used to worry us a lot, but we've been first to market. I guess if a big player came in with it, that might cause some challenges for us, but we also have that unique story of being connected to farm and things like that and I think that resonates with people really well."

Ensor also co-founded Hemprino, a clothing brand blending hemp fiber and merino sheep wool.