Southern Hemp Expo Takes Place In Raleigh This Week – Forbes

Morris Beegle

While the marijuana industry chugs along at full speed towards what many are saying is eventual federal legalization, the hemp industry has been maturing more quietly. Hemp achieved legal status with the passage of 2018s Farm Bill, though it hasnt exactly been an easy road for the cash crop since then. Oversupply and murky legislative implementation coupled with a lack of understanding and oversight at the federal and state levels have left the industry with many challenges.

This weeks Southern Hemp Expo, which runs from September 2-4 in Raleigh, NC, hopes to address some of these challenges by bringing hemp industry leaders together to talk shop and map out the future.

Morris Beegle, co-founder and President of the We Are For Better Alternatives (WAFBA) family of brands, will be speaking at the expo. Spanning education, advocacy and entertainment, Beegle engages audiences around the world through podcasts, virtual conferences and webinars, digital and print media, radio, and live events. Under the WAFBA umbrella, Beegle produces hemp-centric events including the NoCo Hemp Expo, the Southern Hemp Expo, and the Winter Hemp Summit. He also publishes the LetsTalkHemp.com media platform. WAFBA has a products division which includes Silver Mountain Hemp Guitars, maker of hand-crafted hemp guitars, cabinets and components; Tree Free Hemp Paper and Printing company; and One Planet Hemp, an online merchandise store including apparel, posters and accessories. Put simply, Beegle is a hemp-centric jack of all trades.

Ahead of this weeks expo, I checked in with Beegle to discuss the current state of the hemp industry, including his dealings with one of the plants biggest allies, Colorado governor Jared Polis. We also talked about Beegles experience with the NoCo Hemp Expo, which happened in March and was the industrys first in-person gathering since the beginning of Covid.

Morris, you produced one of the cannabis/hemp industrys first in person events in Denver in March with NoCo Hemp Expo. What was it like to bring the community together again for the first time in over a year?

NoCo7 was over 18 months in the works due to the pandemic, which more or less shut down trade shows, conferences, concerts, sporting events and large gatherings for over a year. Finally, getting the industry back together, while still trying to get past Covid-19 and various restrictions in place, was quite a challenge to say the least.

That said, it was a show for the books having thousands of hemp industry participants back together under one roof. While the enthusiasm was different than it was in the beginning of 2019 at NoCo6, there were plenty of positives to take away from the last 2 years since the hemp-derived CBD/biomass market took a substantial hit. One of the biggest positives was people really feed off of being together and in person versus interacting via Zoom or social media. There is no truly viable replacement for live in-person events because humans are social creatures.

What was the most unique hemp based product you saw showcased at NoCo and why?

I would say the Renew Sports Car; with a body made from hemp fiber that hopes to deliver carbon negative cars by 2025. This was the first production model hemp car that Renew has created, and Im really enthusiastic to see where this technology ends up in the coming years.

Any other impressions about the event, and the future of events?

People connect and engage more when together in person versus being online and virtual. Industries across the board are anxious to get back to business face to face and shaking hands, or even bumping elbows in the interim. The feedback we have received has been quite positive and I feel good about the future of live events, at least ones that are done safely and correctly. Well see more hybrid oriented events over the next 12-24 months as the world comes out of the Covid cloud where some people are just not comfortable, or able, to participate in person. Giving people the hybrid option will allow for greater numbers of participants around the globe.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis not only attended but spoke at NoCo. Tell us about that experience. How has he shown support for the hemp industry over the years?

Governor Polis has been a longtime champion of cannabis and hemp policy and advocacy, not only on the state level here in Colorado, but on the national front as a congressman for 10 years before becoming governor. He has spoken numerous times at our NoCo Hemp Expos and has really stood up for the vast benefits and positives of both hemp and cannabis legalization while consistently pointing out the negative consequences of prohibition and the war on drugs that have wreaked havoc on human society.

Ive seen you champion the Hemp Revolution. What is that exactly? And, why is hemp so important to the future of humanity?

In my opinion, the Hemp Revolution began with the book The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer. Since its original release in 1985, the movement around the plant and all that it can do for humanity has blossomed like a rich, aromatic, terpene and trichome heavy cannabis flower. And since the 2014 Farm Bill opened up hemp pilot programs across the United States and the 2018 Farm Bill fully legalized hemp at the federal level, the enthusiasm and innovation around all that hemp can do has skyrocketed.

The plant has brought together all sides of the political spectrum, which we know is an anomaly in today's landscape of left versus right versus centrist. After more than a year of a global pandemic and the glaring environmental and food system problems that exist throughout the world, it has become clear that bold solutions are needed to change the course of human activities so that we have a planet that can sustain our species for centuries and millennia to come.

One of those solutions, and a very important one, is hemp. Not only because of its ability to help heal the earth as an organic and regeneratively grown agricultural crop, but because of the thousands of products that can be made from it. And beyond that, there is a platform that now exists to not only talk about hemp, but to talk about many other alternatives that are better environmental options and are needed to make change so that humanity can continue.

Whats one thing someone reading this interview can do to honor our planet?

Make a personal commitment to becoming a better steward of the planet. Take responsibility for your own impact. Get involved with an organization or multiple organizations that have a mission to improve the environment of the Earth as its the only planet we have. While Elon Musk directs his resources to colonize and terraform Mars, my resources which currently, are substantially less than Elons are directed towards saving what we have right here and right now. Im looking for an army of leaders and advocates to join WAFBA in this mission.

Lets talk about rock n roll for a minute. Youre a big fan of music, used to work in music, and have bridged your past experiences in music with your current role in the hemp industry with your hemp guitar company Silver Mountain Hemp. Hows the hemp guitar scene going? And what else are you doing to infuse rock n roll into WAFBA?

Over the last 4-5 years, slow and steady progress on the hemp guitars, amps and cabinets has been made. Lots of prototypes and R&D to this point, but weve finally got things down where we are now able to take orders on-demand through our Silver Mountain Hemp Custom Shop. We have multiple color options, pickup configurations and 2 different HempCaster body styles including the V1 and V2. In addition, we have hemp amps, combo amps and cabinets and are now ready for maximum volume at all times!

We also infuse a heavy dose of rock n roll energy into WAFBA with our merchandise line at One Planet Hemp including our NoCo7 Rise Up Hemp and Destroy hat. We incorporate live music and independent artists and creators as often as possible with our events, and we are venturing into promoting local, regional and national concerts and live music whenever possible. I liken the WAFBA approach to creating a Lollapalooza type energy within the hemp and cannabis space.

Whats next for WAFBAs network of events in 2021, and how can people stay informed about the hemp industry, future of sustainability?

Our next big event is the 3rd Annual Southern Hemp Expo (SHE3), which we are moving from Nashville to Raleigh, NC at the beginning of September. We will be at the convention center there, and we are expecting this event to be bigger than NoCo Hemp Expo 2021 as the pandemic should hopefully be much more under control by the end of summer.

Other events we are organizing or partnering with include:

Check out our community event site at http://www.hempevents.org for additional hemp and cannabis events from around the world.

Stay informed on hemp industry news, events, lifestyle, education and more at http://www.letstalkhemp.com a media platform dedicated to helping humanity survive and thrive and helping the planet heal.

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Southern Hemp Expo Takes Place In Raleigh This Week - Forbes