Santa Fe Farms Announces Executive Leadership Changes and Million-Acre Strategy to Supply Customers with Industrial Hemp-based Materials

Steven Gluckstern moves to Executive Chairman role and is succeeded by Kim Kovacs as Chief Executive Officer, as company focuses on million-acre strategy to secure top tier manufacturers.

SANTA FE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Santa Fe Farms, a company leading the development of the industrial hemp industry, announced today executive leadership changes and strategy to supply tier 1 customers with industrial hemp-based materials at scale while helping them meet their ESG commitments. All executive leadership changes will go into effect January 1, 2022.

Santa Fe Farms CEO Steven Gluckstern will transition to Executive Chairman to focus on relationship building, industry advocacy including public policy, thought leadership, education, and continuing to build and enhance the Santa Fe Farms brand. With more than 25 years in executive leadership, Kim Kovacs, recently recognized by Forbes on the 50 Over 50 Investment list, will transition from Chief Strategy Officer to become Chief Executive Officer. Rick Schawelson, with over 40 years of business and global supply chain management experience, will take over as President and Chief Operating Officer. Schawelson will oversee the company’s Growth/Cultivation, Processing, and Products operating units, as well as its industrial farming, indigenous partners, and international relationships.

“Our nascent industry needs vocal leadership to educate the public on the extraordinary potential of industrial hemp,” said Gluckstern. “From reducing our reliance on hydrocarbons to helping replace traditional low-value animal feed stock, to providing a new pulp source for paper and packaging to helping us dramatically increase the amount of CO2 we can sequester through agriculture, industrial hemp is the answer.”

Santa Fe Farms is committed to building a profitable, industry-leading enterprise, and fulfill the obligation to address the planet’s carbon problem at scale.

“Our growth and evolution over the past year was significant, particularly with regard to refining our business model, brand and go-to-market strategy, and completely reengineering our corporate structure,” explained Kovacs. “We identified our strategic business objectives for the road ahead, which includes one million acres of industrial hemp under cultivation by 2027.” Santa Fe Farms will reach over 15 percent of that goal in 2022 working with traditional and Indian Country Farmers.”

With the announcement of its million-acre strategy, Santa Fe Farms hopes to make industrial hemp a bona fide grow crop in United States. “We have been collaborating with major universities and government entities to elevate hemp as a primary crop in US to make it eligible for future subsidies economic benefits for farmers in US,” said Schawelson. “Working with our farm partners over the last two years, we now have over two billion seeds in Inventory.”

About Santa Fe Farms

Santa Fe Farms is an integrated company leading the growth and development of the industrial hemp industry. Santa Fe Farms operating units support the growth, transformation, and impact of industrial hemp into chemical and physical ingredients and components, which can be incorporated into thousands of product categories starting with proteins, paper/pulp, and plastics. Santa Fe Farms will be a net-negative carbon business and source of offsets available to other enterprises seeking to reduce their carbon footprint to meet ESG goals and/or regulatory requirements. For more information, visit santafefarms.com.