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More than 20 years ago, Alex White Plume, a leader of the Oglala Lakota, planted his first hemp crop on Wounded Knee Creek, on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. I call White Plume 鈥渢he Hemperer.鈥� He鈥檚 considered to be one of the grandfathers of the cannabis economy for Native people. Like John Trudell, the great Dakota philosopher and musician, White Plume always said, 鈥淗emp is the way.鈥� 

But in 2000, Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the reservation and seized White Plume鈥檚 crop. In fact, there were several raids on his crop between 2000 and 2002. Two years later, he was ordered to stop growing. In 2016, the federal ban was lifted and in 2017, White Plume to make hemp supplements. He鈥檚 just beginning again. 

Not surprisingly, White Plume feels a bit resentful of the profits being made in what鈥檚 now become a largely White-dominated industry, while his tribe had to sit on the sidelines.

But the potential for Native people to benefit economically in the hemp industry still exists.

Now White Plume is involved in processing hemp and plans to make a vertically integrated Lakota industry. He envisions a sustainable industry that will create high-paying jobs and bring in a steady stream of income for Lakota tribes.聽

鈥淭his is going to be all Lakota hemp, grown on Lakota [land], produced by Lakota, and we鈥檙e going to market it by Lakota,鈥� White Plume says.

The hemp world is changing. 

With 10,000 uses, hemp is one of the most versatile plants to grow鈥攁nd in many ways can be a catalyst for change for Native peoples. We see a New Green Revolution in Indian Country, tied to justice, economics, restoration ecology, and a return-to-the-land movement, and it鈥檚 growing.

Just last year, the Fort Berthold Reservation, Colorado River tribes, Iowa Tribe (Kansas and Nebraska), Yurok, Sisseton and Santee Dakotas, to name a few, all got their hemp plans approved by the USDA, but more than that, tribal growers and thinkers are considering hemp as part of the future for Indian Country. And young leaders such as Muriel Young Bear, a Meskwaki woman from Iowa, and Marcus Grignon鈥攁 Menominee and project director at Hempstead Project HEART, a John Trudell initiative鈥攔epresent a new wave of commitment.聽 聽

Hemp Is the Way

With having either legalized, decriminalized, or medicalized marijuana, we鈥檙e experiencing a renaissance moment of cannabis, including hemp鈥攊ts non-psychoactive relative. And it鈥檚 about time. In , hemp will be foundational to the just transition, or the New Green Revolution. 

Let me explain. 

In the 20th century, Norman Borlaug, called the Father of the Green Revolution, gave us advanced agricultural technology, including genetically modified plants. It鈥檚 been said that the United States had a choice between a carbohydrate economy and a hydrocarbon economy鈥攁n economy that depends on petroleum, coal, and natural gas. As I鈥檝e written before, our current health, economic, and climate crises have proven we made the wrong choice.  

The carbohydrate economy is one based on plants. Hemp grows easily; it is resilient and doesn鈥檛 require huge amounts of chemicals or water, although there are specific soil requirements for it to grow. It can be foundational to such an economy.   

For the past five years, I鈥檝e been a hemp farmer, with permits from the state of Minnesota. My business is called Winona鈥檚 Hemp, and our research partner is Anishinaabe Agriculture. In 2020, we grew 20 acres of fiber hemp, and are working with that hemp to create a local economy. We send off our high-quality, field-retted hemp to processors to make cloth for canvas textiles. Our plan is to restore a hemp economy without a lot of chemicals and fossil fuels. The traditional history of hemp is without fossil fuels. We鈥檇 like to do as much to restore that practice as possible鈥攆ocused on appropriate technology, equity, and innovation.聽

Our focus has been in fiber varieties, with an interest in reducing any fossil fuel use in production and in processing. We鈥檝e sourced varieties from Canada and Europe, with the help of Patagonia and our friends at the Lift Economy. We grew those seeds in fields on and around the White Earth Reservation. We did our best to plant with organic fertilizers, using fish emulsion and horse manure to build our soils. We learned from our experience and by talking to as many folks as possible.  

That said, we have a lot of experience here in small field crops, horse cultivation, and traditional varieties. We grew in small plots, hand seeded, and in a larger 20-acre plot, mechanically harvested with 40-year-old equipment.聽

We also put in a field with horses because some of our partnerships here involve not only our horse-drawn agriculture, but also those of our Amish neighbors. We鈥檝e come to collaborate, as we have similar interests in terms of technology and geography.聽

We provided seeds to tribes throughout the region, all interested in the same questions: How do you grow it? And, what can you do with it? 

What we found is that the plant will teach you: Don鈥檛 be in a rush. We are re-creating an industry from the seed to the product鈥攚hether smokable or for manufacturing. Some tribes are looking at materials processing鈥攃ar parts, bags, etc.鈥攐thers are looking at hempcrete, an improvement on concrete because of its sustainability and the fact that it is a carbon sink.

There鈥檚 a lot of room in the New Green Revolution. After all, if you are going to change the materials economy鈥攚ell, the whole economy鈥攜ou will need a lot of producers and also some folks in manufacturing. That鈥檚 the goal. Indeed, if hemp鈥檚 potential is realized, we can transform the materials economy, and that鈥檚 revolutionary. That鈥檚 our work now, to investigate, vet, and find technologies and economic models that can be replicated. 

And though tribes have been reluctant to get into the hemp and cannabis industry, particularly under the Trump era, there鈥檚 a in this new Green Revolution.

The Wisconsin-based Oneida tribe, strategically situated near Green Bay, Wisconsin, points to a , and hemp hurd, which can be used for insulation.

The Sisseton Tribe, based in present-day South and North Dakota, has been growing hemp for from the University of Minnesota. They鈥檙e looking at fiber hemp for a composite bag facility鈥攍ike shopping bags. The tribe has an industrial facility on the reservation, and also rail access.

are exploring hemp fiber with their Churro sheep wool to make a new specialty textile. from the Nez Perce reservation launched a magazine, , focused on tribal hemp and cannabis.

The Tudinu, or Desert People in Las Vegas, have a little 鈥渃olony鈥� downtown, a mile from the Strip. In l970, they were as the Las Vegas Paiutes, and in 2017, opened the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace. That鈥檚 a big deal, as in downtown Las Vegas. They may not have much land, but they have a big dispensary.

Tribes are in a unique position. Tribal sovereignty provides their governments leeway in the development of cannabis policies and will be a stabilizing force in turbulent times. Today, confusing regulations and lucrative growth in the cannabis industry set a complex scene, but tribal nations are in a position to continue a course they set.

Tribes have the potential to revolutionize the industry. We have the land鈥攚e just need a bit of time, technology, and finances. This is an opportunity for justice鈥攕ocial and ecological鈥攊n this post-petroleum economic transition. And we are ready to go.

Editor’s note: This article was edited at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2021, to re-insert hyperlinks and include additional paragraphs that were cut from the print edition because of space constraints. See our corrections policy here.