Our Team

John is a fifth-generation farmer born and raised in South Dakota, working with the 4th and 6th generations to grow hemp, corn and soybeans. After serving in the United States Navy as a Nuclear Machinist Mate aboard a submarine, John moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he was a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technician for Nuvera Fuel Cells. He returned to South Dakota in 2006 beginning to farming with his Dad, Steve, and later built a hog finishing barn which he operated for over 17 years. In 2021, South Dakota's first year of industrial hemp farming, he planted 40 acres of a grain and fiber hemp variety, and saw an immediate need for fiber processing in the area. After numerous trips to visit different processing facilities, an agreement was made to purchase a Hemp Train decortication unit from Canadian Greenfield Technologies. As a member of the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Association (2021-current) he has helped organize and present nearly 100 hemp educational meetings where everyone is invited to learn first-hand how to grow hemp, and to assist farmers in all aspects of hemp production, from seed sourcing, to bale contracts, and most important, tips of what not to do! This has led to South Dakota being the top US hemp producing state in 2022 and 2023. Over the past 4 years, industrial hemp acres have now increased to a full rotational crop on his farm, along with corn and soybeans. John is now focused on expanding the newly emerging, US hemp market while continuously expanding the network of hemp farmers. Dakota Hemp fiber processing plant in Wakonda, SD is currently under construction and is expecting to open for operation in June 2025.