American Hemp Farmer: Adventures and Misadventures in the Cannabis Trade

by Doug Fine

Overview

The inside story of the world’s most fascinating and lucrative crop from gonzo journalist–turned–hemp farmer Doug Fine.

Hemp, the non-psychoactive variant of cannabis (or marijuana) and one of humanity’s oldest plant allies, has quietly become the fastest industry ever to generate a billion dollars of annual revenue in North America. From hemp seed to hemp fiber to the currently ubiquitous cannabinoid CBD, this resilient crop is leading the way toward a new, regenerative economy that contributes to soil and climate restoration—but only if we do it right.

In American Hemp Farmer, maverick journalist and solar-powered goat herder Doug Fine gets his hands dirty with healthy soil and sticky with terpenes growing his own crop and creating his own hemp products. Fine shares his adventures and misadventures as an independent, regenerative farmer and entrepreneur, all while laying out a vision for how hemp can help right the wrongs of twentieth-century agriculture, and how you can be a part of it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603589192
Publisher:	Chelsea Green Publishing
Publication date:	04/23/2020
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,064,861
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Doug Fine is a solar-powered goat herder, comedic investigative journalist, and pioneer voice in cannabis/hemp and regenerative farming. He has cultivated hemp in four US states, and his genetics are in five more. He’s an award-winning culture and climate correspondent for NPR, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, among others. His previous books include Hemp Bound, Too High to Fail, Farewell, My Subaru (a Boston Globe bestseller), Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man, and First Legal Harvest, a monograph that was printed on hemp paper. His print and radio work, United Nations testimony, and TED Talk can be found at dougfine.com, and his social media handle is @organiccowboy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Refugee Bear 1

1 Be First, Better, or Different 5

The Farming Year Never Ends Anymore 22

2 We're All Soil Farmers Now 29

Your Industry Starts on the Farm 46

3 Owning Your Seed 55

4 Wild West Genetics 75

5 Adventures in Planting-Gear Malfunction 91

6 On Weeding, Watering, and Organic Certification 107

7 The Midseason Panic Attack: Rookie Focus 114

8 The Midseason Panic Attack: Veteran Focus 123

Have a Five-Year Plan 134

9 Combining Killed the Radio Star 140

Plan for Plan B 158

10 How Would the Shaman Bottle Hemp? 163

11 Hemp Keeps You Thin 182

12 Rebirth of the Biomaterials Era 195

13 Farmer Fiber Collaboration 207

14 Cleaning Up with Plants 214

15 Herding Rugged Individualists 222

Have a Compelling Backstory 238

16 Green Chile Hemp 241

17 The Friendly Fungus and the Hairnet 255

Epilogue: The Regenerative Entrepreneur 269

Acknowledgments 280

Notes 283

Index 295

Editorial Reviews

03/02/2020

Fine (Hemp Bound) shares his own experiences with hemp farming, which is “about to become the fastest agricultural industry ever to reach a billion dollars in annual sales,” in this educational outing. From a practical farming perspective, it’s a boon, as “for the first time in generations... a family can make a living while hand-harvesting on small acreage.” Fine covers the crucial points of hemp farming, from “soil building” to the type of seed to buy (open-source). Readers will learn what to expect to pay for seed, about weeding (it’s relaxing), and how to overcome “mid-season panic attacks” about the harvest. Fine explores hand harvesting (“can people do as good a job as John Deere”?) and describes processing hemp in a commercial kitchen and the various extraction methods involved. More generally, he discusses the value of work co-ops, having “a compelling backstory” for one’s product (“I cultivate hemp because...”), and studying the exemplary example of small-business management provided by craft breweries. For anyone interested in hemp cultivation or simply learning more about the newest “gold rush” crop, this is well worth picking up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal—

“An essential book for the aspiring hemp farmer, there is much to consider here for anyone interested in organic farming, drug policy, and community organizing.”

Publishers Weekly—

“For anyone interested in hemp cultivation or simply learning more about the newest ‘gold rush’ crop, [American Hemp Farmer] is well worth picking up.” 

Booklist—

“A conversational guide for the horticulture geek interested in cultivating hemp. . . . [Fine’s] text is discursive but also helpfully specific and will soothe and encourage any would-be grower.”

“A fantastic piece of Americana that shows the way to a sustainable future.”—David Bronner, CEO, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps

“With American Hemp Farmer, Doug Fine shows he is not just our preeminent hemp author, he is one of the most important authors of our time. As I’ve watched him leap between tending goats on his Funky Butte Ranch and hemp fields in Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, and who knows where else, it sometimes occurs to me that he might be the most interesting man alive. The resulting book is an absolute must-read.”—Eric Steenstra, executive director, Vote Hemp

“After 83 years of prohibition, cannabis’s emergence from the underground has sparked a gold rush that has every farmer, wannabe farmer, and agricultural entrepreneur rushing to stake their claim. With American Hemp Farmer, Doug Fine makes an incredibly well-written case for a regenerative agriculture–based, small- to mid-scale approach to the industry that prioritizes quality of over quantity, and where soil carbon sequestration is a bottom-line goal. Humorous, timely, and important.”—Jeff Carpenter, coauthor of The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer

“American Hemp Farmer would have been in George Washington’s library. President Washington grew hemp and was a passionate, regenerative agriculturist. Washington sought advice from those that practiced their trade. Doug Fine’s American Hemp Farmer is a scholarly, practical, and impeccably enjoyable work and a must-read for those who cultivate hemp or are interested in leaping in.”—Dean Norton, director of horticulture, Mount Vernon Estate

“In his latest, author Doug Fine—a modern day Johnny Hempseed—has painstakingly penned a love letter to the cannabis plant and all those who tend it. Doug details the beneficial and no longer forbidden relationship between cannabis and humanity and how together there is a path to rejuvenate the entire planet. As a state hemp program administrator, I hope every hemp farmer and policymaker reads this book carefully. It details a roadmap for success, for farmers and the planet. And that’s probably because Doug doesn’t just write about hemp, he lives it.”—Cary Giguere, hemp program coordinator, Vermont Agency of Agriculture

“As a hempcrete homeowner, I’m proud to keep American Hemp Farmer on my shelf as the must-read book on hemp. Someday we may even see NBA arenas built from hemp. But for now, Doug should be prepared to lose more money at the poker table that sits on the hemp floor of my hemp-paneled card room.”—Don Nelson, two-time NBA Hall of Fame inductee

From the Publisher

05/01/2020

The expansion of the hemp economy is a gold rush scenario, but journalist and hemp farmer Fine is passionate about a possible future in which farmers are the ones who benefit, and most important, in his view, this helps alleviate climate change. Part agronomy manual, part gonzo farm journalism, this book gives a strong grounding in the historical, legal, and economic realities of hemp and its applications. It is not a straightforward introduction, but rather it includes a number of lengthy sidebars and a large cast of recurring characters, such as the author's herd of goats. Fine's aim is to convince farmers and legislators not to repeat the mistakes of the past by allowing farmers to control more of the process from seed breeding, distribution, and processing, and much of his rhetorical approach is to tell readers about his own forays into those areas, with often comic results. Ultimately, the arguments are compelling and sometimes inspiring and the advice is practical. VERDICT An essential book for the aspiring hemp farmer, there is much to consider here for anyone interested in organic farming, drug policy, and community organizing.—Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.

Library Journal