Hemp: Growing into the Future

According to Colorado hemp growers Ed Berg and Scott Perez, hemp is an extraordinary plant with many uses: It can feed people and animals, heal medical conditions, make cloth and rope, produce biodegradable plastics, sequester carbon, and remove toxins from soil. So what’s in the way of its widespread use–and how can small producers survive when it becomes a major commodity crop?

Ed and Scott were speakers at the recent Regenerate Conference. Check out the YouTube video of their talk! 

Show Notes

0’44 how Ed and Scott started growing hemp
1’38 land use problems in Colorado
3’37 is hemp already a big commodity crop?
4’56 how Scott got into hemp through the holistic movement
5’18 pulling radiation from the ground in Chernobyl with hemp
6’28 what do you do with the radioactive hemp plants
7’02 Ed’s ideas on what to do with radioactive materials
8’38 removing heavy metals from soils
9’19 hemp in regenerative agriculture
9’53 hemp grows everywhere
11’11 hemp drought-tolerant
12’33 hemp very adaptible
13’25 historical hemp producing areas coming back
13’45 other uses of hemp besides CBD and medicinal uses, like fiber
15’31 hemp being used by car companies to make body panels
16’00 hemp glass compared to fiberglass
16’35 canvas and cannabis from the same root word
16’52 cannabanoid plants co-evolved with animal life
18’28 hemp medicines in pharmaceutical context
19’06 hemp sequestering carbon
20’23 the carbon content of soil and water retention
22’12 water issues in Colorado
23’01 do animals eat hemp plants?
24’31 cows love hemp
25’18 hemp as food for humans
26’07 why hemp was made illegal in the early 20th century
27’52 reefer madness
28’19 hemp twine better than plastic
29’14 biodegradable plastic from hemp
29’38 is there anything hemp can’t do?
30’09 if hemp is used for everything it’s used for does that create a land use problem
31’44 monocropping vs polycropping for hemp
33’44 what would large scale regenerative hemp production look like
36’12 weed and cover crops protecting insects
37’13 deer making their beds in plants and polishing their antlers
37’38 how do you find good seeds and not get ripped off
40’21 hemp as a community builder
41’24 business models for small producers who want to use the whole plant
42’21 acequia as a community model
44’28 the problems with new proposed hemp regulation–and what people can do
48’48 how hemp has helped Ed and Scott personally

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