Our Story

The story about us begins and ends on our family farm. The reason why we started our hemp journey is that we love farming and working the Kansas land. We love being a part of a community bigger than us. At the end of the day, if we can positively impact our local economy and boost Kansas agriculture we’ve succeeded in this new voyage. We are a fourth-generation farm located in Central Kansas, which has farmed corn, wheat, soybeans, and milo for nearly 50 years. In 2019, Kansas opened the opportunity for farmers to grow industrial hemp. Similar to our desire to be on the innovating edge of traditional farming technology, we also wanted to be on the pioneering front for this new crop opportunity..

South Bend Industrial Hemp was established in 2019 by Aaron, Richard and Melissa. By combining our diverse backgrounds and strengths we completed our first growing season together. It was truly a team effort. We pride ourselves in growing a healthy crop, provide a product from our plants to consumers, and educate communities on the many health benefits of byproducts of hemp. Learning curves and growing pains were expected, but even on the hardest of days, our mission and our goals were the driving force to making this year successful.

We wanted to introduce ourselves and let you get to know the people who are bringing South Bend Industrial Hemp products from our land to your hand. Aaron and Richard Baldwin are brothers and co-owners of Circle K Farming Partnership. Their ability to build, fix, and modify any piece of equipment to make our ideas come to life was extremely valuable growing hemp this year. Richard and Aaron are native to Great Bend and are active in the farming community. Richard is married to Candie Baldwin and has two kids, Derion and Dakota. When he’s not in the tractor or checking irrigation he’s busy coaching Dakota in softball and spending time with his family. Our hemp business venture fuels our passion for continuing our family farm legacy to the next generation.

Melissa married into the Baldwin family and is Aaron's wife.  She is an independent crop research scientist and operates her own company, Performance Crop Research. She has been working in the research industry for the past 7 years. Melissa has a background in cattle and was active in FFA and 4-H growing up. She currently serves on the county board for Barton County Farm Bureau. Together, Melissa and Aaron volunteer for the Great Bend Booster Club as committee leaders. Aaron and Melissa have two children, Brantley and Annah and stay busy following their activities when they aren’t farming.   

Thank you for visiting our page and we encourage you to reach out if you have any questions about growing hemp or our journey in bringing these products from our land to your hand. We love educating people and helping reduce the negative stigmatism about industrial hemp. If you would like to come to tour our farm or have us come speak to a group reach out and we’ll make it work!