((PKG)) CANNABIS COWBOYS
((TRT: 7:35))
((Topic Banner: Cannabis Cowboys))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez))
((Drone Camera and Still Photography: Jason Shields))
((Map: Fallon, Nevada))
((Main characters: 1 female; 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I'm going 29 miles an hour
behind the Crown Victoria.
I'm moving up through the reservation.
I am just about to duck water.
Why don't you move it on over to the right
and let this sister fly.
I want to put it in fifth gear.
I want to burn some gas.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
My name is Adrienne Snow, and I am one of the owners of
Western States Hemp. We are a hemp cultivation company
who also process and make retail products out of hemp.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Yeah, you got to see these palettes. It's cool.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Joe Frey, my partner, asked me if I was interested in
kind of running the business of a potential hemp operation.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
It can be used to clothe you, to remediate the soil, for food,
fiber, housing, clothing, medicine.
There's not many plants that can do all of that.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Wasn't it like Thanksgiving dinner at Gary and Billy Joe’s or
Christmas dinner?
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I don’t know. We were just sitting at the dinner table and you
said, “Hey, I've got an idea. Would you be interested in
working with me on it?”
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
We got into hemp about four years ago, primarily to see if we
could grow a crop for profit and save water doing it. We live
in the desert, so water is pretty scarce.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I love seeing the worms. That tells me they're happy to be
here. We've had a very dry winter so far. Haven't had any
precipitation in two to three weeks now and even before that,
it was very minimal, so. Right now, this has been in alfalfa
for about four years, and we'll take it out and we'll go into
corn next year. Yeah, alfalfa is probably the most common
crop growing in Nevada. So far, we've found hemp, if it's
grown industrial style with the same irrigation techniques,
uses about two thirds of the water that alfalfa does. When
we grow it under drip irrigation, it uses less than one quarter
of the water of alfalfa. In the last four years, we've slowly
turned to regenerative ag [agriculture] practices, and that's
proven to be very advantageous, not only economically but
environmentally. And we're using hemp in that process.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Oh, that's great.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
It's the symbiotic nature that hemp has with other plants, the
diversity. It's one more crop to add to our arsenal to create
diversity in the fields. You know, not only is that good for soil
health, but also pest resistance. If you take care of the soil
and take care of the land, I think, you can do a lot towards
climate change, even on a couple hundred acres [hectares]
in the middle of Nevada.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
This is part of my evening route here with a gin and tonic.
So, I would be the fifth generation Nevada farmer in my
family. I was a little bit nervous about my dad. Grew up in a
very conservative family, and I didn't know what he would
think. He was a little bit leery about it at first but, you know,
once he saw that it was all legal and we had all the proper
paperwork and that it was federally legal, he was, he jumped
on board pretty quick.
((NATS))
((Joseph Frey, Farmer, Joe’s father))
Yes, I did have mixed feelings about hemp. Growing
cannabis? What's that about? But they made it legal. So,
there must be something I don't know.
((Susan Frey, Joe’s mother))
People still were under the misconception that, “Oh, hemp.
That's cannabis. Oh, that's marijuana.” Well, the difference
between it, I would have to explain to them, the difference
between hemp and marijuana is the level of the THC
[Tetrahydrocannabinol].
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
So, the THC is the cannabinoid that’s psychoactive. That's
the one that gets you high. So, with very little of it in here,
you would feel no effects. You would feel no euphoria or
whatever else, whatever high feeling you get from the THC.
You would simply get the relaxing effects of the CBD
[Cannabidiol]. So, you end up with a product that, it's legally
compliant. It can be grown in at least 48 states. The health
benefits are phenomenal: pain relief to epilepsy and seizure
control.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I had a reason in the medicinal aspects to want to propel that
research and this industry forward. As a mother, I've personally
experienced the terror of watching your child have a seizure.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Not a lot of green but it's sticky. You can still feel it's full of
cannabinoids.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
These are a lot of the products that we've created. This is a pain
bomb. This is an herbal tea. We make tinctures: one is for people,
one is for pets. These are some of the most popular items we
have, which are CBD bath bombs. So, these are for pain. This is
the derivative that would eventually become rope or textiles. This
is hemp bast fiber that has been cottonized. Cottonization of
hemp is our ultimate goal.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I and my family was part of the cowboy culture. Crossing into this
cannabis culture was something that 10, 15, 20 years prior would
have been an oxymoron. It's just two cultures colliding. But then,
in the end, you see this, this symbiosis between the two, where
really, as more cattlemen can use it as a rotational crop and use it
for cattle feed, you're going to see a lot more cowboys become
cannabis cowboys.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joseph Frey, Farmer, Joe’s father))
Joe farms totally different, differently than I do. He's more of a
holistic farmer. I think in the agricultural world, innovation is
slower to move than in other industries. With hemp, he is an
innovator in the United States, I believe.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I would like to see the land be healthy and I would like to be able
to see it passed on to future generations. And if we don't take
care of it and use all the knowledge that we have, I think we'll see
it disappear, become useless. But I think we've got the tools in
our toolbox to be successful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((TRT: 7:35))
((Topic Banner: Cannabis Cowboys))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez))
((Drone Camera and Still Photography: Jason Shields))
((Map: Fallon, Nevada))
((Main characters: 1 female; 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I'm going 29 miles an hour
behind the Crown Victoria.
I'm moving up through the reservation.
I am just about to duck water.
Why don't you move it on over to the right
and let this sister fly.
I want to put it in fifth gear.
I want to burn some gas.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
My name is Adrienne Snow, and I am one of the owners of
Western States Hemp. We are a hemp cultivation company
who also process and make retail products out of hemp.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Yeah, you got to see these palettes. It's cool.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Joe Frey, my partner, asked me if I was interested in
kind of running the business of a potential hemp operation.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
It can be used to clothe you, to remediate the soil, for food,
fiber, housing, clothing, medicine.
There's not many plants that can do all of that.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Wasn't it like Thanksgiving dinner at Gary and Billy Joe’s or
Christmas dinner?
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I don’t know. We were just sitting at the dinner table and you
said, “Hey, I've got an idea. Would you be interested in
working with me on it?”
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
We got into hemp about four years ago, primarily to see if we
could grow a crop for profit and save water doing it. We live
in the desert, so water is pretty scarce.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I love seeing the worms. That tells me they're happy to be
here. We've had a very dry winter so far. Haven't had any
precipitation in two to three weeks now and even before that,
it was very minimal, so. Right now, this has been in alfalfa
for about four years, and we'll take it out and we'll go into
corn next year. Yeah, alfalfa is probably the most common
crop growing in Nevada. So far, we've found hemp, if it's
grown industrial style with the same irrigation techniques,
uses about two thirds of the water that alfalfa does. When
we grow it under drip irrigation, it uses less than one quarter
of the water of alfalfa. In the last four years, we've slowly
turned to regenerative ag [agriculture] practices, and that's
proven to be very advantageous, not only economically but
environmentally. And we're using hemp in that process.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Oh, that's great.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
It's the symbiotic nature that hemp has with other plants, the
diversity. It's one more crop to add to our arsenal to create
diversity in the fields. You know, not only is that good for soil
health, but also pest resistance. If you take care of the soil
and take care of the land, I think, you can do a lot towards
climate change, even on a couple hundred acres [hectares]
in the middle of Nevada.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
This is part of my evening route here with a gin and tonic.
So, I would be the fifth generation Nevada farmer in my
family. I was a little bit nervous about my dad. Grew up in a
very conservative family, and I didn't know what he would
think. He was a little bit leery about it at first but, you know,
once he saw that it was all legal and we had all the proper
paperwork and that it was federally legal, he was, he jumped
on board pretty quick.
((NATS))
((Joseph Frey, Farmer, Joe’s father))
Yes, I did have mixed feelings about hemp. Growing
cannabis? What's that about? But they made it legal. So,
there must be something I don't know.
((Susan Frey, Joe’s mother))
People still were under the misconception that, “Oh, hemp.
That's cannabis. Oh, that's marijuana.” Well, the difference
between it, I would have to explain to them, the difference
between hemp and marijuana is the level of the THC
[Tetrahydrocannabinol].
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
So, the THC is the cannabinoid that’s psychoactive. That's
the one that gets you high. So, with very little of it in here,
you would feel no effects. You would feel no euphoria or
whatever else, whatever high feeling you get from the THC.
You would simply get the relaxing effects of the CBD
[Cannabidiol]. So, you end up with a product that, it's legally
compliant. It can be grown in at least 48 states. The health
benefits are phenomenal: pain relief to epilepsy and seizure
control.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I had a reason in the medicinal aspects to want to propel that
research and this industry forward. As a mother, I've personally
experienced the terror of watching your child have a seizure.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
Not a lot of green but it's sticky. You can still feel it's full of
cannabinoids.
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
These are a lot of the products that we've created. This is a pain
bomb. This is an herbal tea. We make tinctures: one is for people,
one is for pets. These are some of the most popular items we
have, which are CBD bath bombs. So, these are for pain. This is
the derivative that would eventually become rope or textiles. This
is hemp bast fiber that has been cottonized. Cottonization of
hemp is our ultimate goal.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I and my family was part of the cowboy culture. Crossing into this
cannabis culture was something that 10, 15, 20 years prior would
have been an oxymoron. It's just two cultures colliding. But then,
in the end, you see this, this symbiosis between the two, where
really, as more cattlemen can use it as a rotational crop and use it
for cattle feed, you're going to see a lot more cowboys become
cannabis cowboys.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Joseph Frey, Farmer, Joe’s father))
Joe farms totally different, differently than I do. He's more of a
holistic farmer. I think in the agricultural world, innovation is
slower to move than in other industries. With hemp, he is an
innovator in the United States, I believe.
((NATS))
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp))
I would like to see the land be healthy and I would like to be able
to see it passed on to future generations. And if we don't take
care of it and use all the knowledge that we have, I think we'll see
it disappear, become useless. But I think we've got the tools in
our toolbox to be successful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
