2020 Hawai'i Hemp Panel Discussions

Friday, Nov 13 at 3 PM: Breakout Session Hemp Panel 1

In the Trenches and Beyond CBD: Hemp Enterprises and Opportunities

Gail Bryne-Baber (ONLY moderating), Steve Sakala, Janel Ralph, Iginia Boccalandro, Mark Lewis (not pictured)

Gail Bryne-Baber (Moderator ONLY for this panel discussion) ~ Hawaii Royal Hemp

BIO: With a background in civil engineering, Gail has coordinated numerous natural resource management projects for nonprofits and government agencies on a landscape and watershed scale, including research on optimal structures for community land trusts to provide affordable access to land for farmers inclusive of housing. Gail worked with her husband, Clarence Baber, to pass the initial Hawaii hemp bill and served as the HFUU hemp liaison during 2019-2020 legislative session. She serves on the boards of the Hawaii Hemp Farmers Association and the Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation. Gail and other Hawaii Island farmers are working to establish processing infrastructure for farmers so they can participate in the value chain. She and her husband were awarded the first license to grow hemp in Hawaii.

Steve Sakala

BIO: The Founder of Mana Artisan Botanics™, Steve Sakala, has been a voice for sustainability, regenerative agriculture and medical cannabis for more than two decades. He was educated about the numerous benefits of the cannabis plant at a young age and quickly became passionate about its thousands of uses. He holds the view that it is an indispensable resource for food, fiber and medicine, as well as reducing our impact on the planet.

Janel Ralph

BIO: Janel Ralph is the CEO and Founder of Palmetto Harmony the first vertically integrated organically certified CBD line of products. Palmetto Harmony was borne of a mother’s desire to alleviate her child’s debilitating seizures. Pharmaceuticals had failed Janel Ralph’s daughter Harmony, as had impure hemp-derived cannabidiol products. However, Janel knew there was hope in hemp for Harmony and others like her, so she persevered. 

Iginia Boccalandro ~ Fat Pig Society Worker Cooperative

Iginia will share lessons learned being a member of a Workers Cooperative with the mission of finding a crop for organic farmers to increase their revenue. Hemp for CBD became the crop that could make the farmer a lucrative supplemental income to help them survive and set up their succession plan . We are currently a fully vertically integrated USDA Organic Hemp farm practicing regenerative agriculture and producing a high quality CBD product line. We focus on education and have a strong internship program, Our farm is a WWOOF USA site and we work with community volunteers all the year long Sharing the challenges, rewards, lessons and more when one is positioned in a nascent, booming industry of the most remarkable and amazing plant in a world of predatory capitalists who like sharks in a blood thirsty frenzy are driving the industry.

BIO: Iginia is the founder of the Carbon Economy Series, a non-profit, dedicated to teaching sustainable workshops and practices on college campuses. She grew up in Venezuela in a family of cattle ranchers and is an entrepreneur that has owned and operated a private practice in alternative health for over thirty years in addition to marketing natural, whole food products harvested in the wild. Iginia graduated from the University of New York (SUNY) with a Bachelor of Science degree and has had a private Rolfing practice in Structural Integration since 1988. She has worked in Vermont, Utah, California, Texas, Venezuela, and New Mexico prior to moving to Colorado. Iginia is a two-time Olympian in the sport of luge and has helped other athletes succeed in their careers and lives with mentorship, coaching and alternative health care.

She created the Carbon Economy Series (CES), an educational 501(c)3, in 2011. CES teaches sustainable principles and practices in Colleges in New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado. As a Certified Permaculture Designer she is involved in many sustainable projects and initiatives in the Americas. She has studied with Dr. Paulo Lugari, Toby Hemenway and Dr Elaine Ingham. She comes from a ranching family in Venezuela and has been an agricultural producer selling at the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market two specialized crops: Mara de Bois French strawberries and giant dahlias with Althouse farm. Iginia moved to Colorado in 2015 to be a hemp farmer and is a founding member of the Fat Pig Society, a worker cooperative dedicated to pioneering alternative crops for organic farmers. Their mission is to create greater income for farmers while building soil, increasing bio diversity and rewarding organic farmers for their commitment to a more sustainable planet. The coop has grown hemp and is producing organic CBD for the lowest price to the largest amount of people possible. They have a USDA organic certified farm that is vertically integrated and produces edible, topical and smokable CBD. Iginia has been a pioneer, activist and innovator in alternative health, peak performance and sustainability. She is a regular speaker and educator both nationally and internationally on topics such as organic hemp production, regenerative agricultural practices, Permaculture Design, Cooperative business structure and ways to sequester carbon through sustainable practices.

Friday, Nov 13 at 4:30 PM: Breakout Session Hemp Panel 2

We Don’t Need No Badges - Down the Federal and State Regulatory Rabbit Hole

Doug Fine (moderator), Ray Maki, Cary Giguere, Gail Bryne-Baber

Doug Fine (Moderator for this panel discussion)

BIO: Doug Fine is a comedic investigative journalist, bestselling author, and solar-powered goat herder. His latest book is American Hemp Farmer: Adventures and Misadventures in the Cannabis Trade (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020). He has cultivated hemp for food, farm-to-table products and seed-building in four U.S. states. You can register for his online regenerative hemp course with Acres USA here. Willie Nelson calls Doug’s work “a blueprint for the America of the future.” The Washington Post says, “Fine is a storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams.” A website of Doug’s print, radio and television work, United Nations testimony, and TED Talk is at dougfine.com and his social media handle is @organiccowboy.

WEBSITE: DougFine.com

Ray Maki ~ Hawaii Nexus

BIO: Ray Maki is a Hawaii Licensed hemp producer and processor with 30 years of commercial organic production experience on the island of Kauai. He is currently producing hemp oil products under the brand "Hawaii Nexus". Ray is the owner of "Permaculture Kauai"and is a certified Permaculture designer, consultant, educator and nurseryman. He is the President of The Hawaii Hemp Farmers Association and sits on the board of the Moloaa Irrigation Coop.

Cary Giguere

BIO: Cary Giguere is the Director of the Public Health and Agricultural Resource Management Division for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, which manages Vermont’s hemp program. He has played a significant role in the implementation of Vermont’s state regulatory role in hemp production. Vermont’s program has grown under his supervision to support one of the highest per capita numbers of farmer permit holders of any state. He has worked for the Agency of Agriculture for 25 years. He began his career in the agricultural laboratory analyzing animal feed, fertilizer and pesticide samples for consumer assurance and contaminants of concern. He later worked as a scientific advisor, implementing research trials to answer public policy questions before becoming program manager for all pesticide, animal feed, and fertilizer programs. In 2018, Mr. Giguere was selected as the Division Director, which in addition to his earlier program oversight, also incorporated statewide apiary, nursery and hemp programs. He holds degrees in environmental science and chemistry from the University of Massachusetts.

Gail Bryne-Baber ~ Hawaii Royal Hemp

BIO: With a background in civil engineering, Gail has coordinated numerous natural resource management projects for nonprofits and government agencies on a landscape and watershed scale, including research on optimal structures for community land trusts to provide affordable access to land for farmers inclusive of housing. Gail worked with her husband, Clarence Baber, to pass the initial Hawaii hemp bill and served as the HFUU hemp liaison during 2019-2020 legislative session. She serves on the boards of the Hawaii Hemp Farmers Association and the Hawaii Farmers Union Foundation. Gail and other Hawaii Island farmers are working to establish processing infrastructure for farmers so they can participate in the value chain. She and her husband were awarded the first license to grow hemp in Hawaii.

Friday, Nov 13 at 5:45 PM: Breakout Session Hemp Panel 3

Cultivation Stories from Actual Farmers

Doug Fine, Cab Baber, Ron Kennedy, Greg Smith

Doug Fine (Moderator for this panel discussion)

BIO: Doug Fine is a comedic investigative journalist, bestselling author, and solar-powered goat herder. His latest book is American Hemp Farmer: Adventures and Misadventures in the Cannabis Trade (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020). He has cultivated hemp for food, farm-to-table products and seed-building in four U.S. states. You can register for his online regenerative hemp course with Acres USA here. Willie Nelson calls Doug’s work “a blueprint for the America of the future.” The Washington Post says, “Fine is a storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams.” A website of Doug’s print, radio and television work, United Nations testimony, and TED Talk is at dougfine.com and his social media handle is @organiccowboy.

WEBSITE: DougFine.com

Cab Baber ~ Hawaii Royal Hemp

BIO: Clarence (Cab) Baber has farmed in Hawaii for 40+ years. He co-founded the Hawaii Organic Farmers Association and is a pioneer in the modern use of fermentations and microbes to build soil, manufacturing EM bokashi for 25+ years. In 1990, Cab co-founded the Hawaii Hemp Association to advocate for island sustainability and growing hemp to transition from sugar. Between 2013-2016, Clarence worked to pass hemp legislation in Hawaii, coordinating with farmers, industry experts, law enforcement and the University of Hawaii. In 2015 Cab was invited to the launch of the University of Hawaii’s pilot hemp project. He and his wife received the first license to grow hemp in Hawaii in 2018 and founded Hawaii Royal Hemp Inc. https://www.hawaiiroyalhemp.com Cab has consulted on hemp grows in four states and Canada.

Greg Smith ~ Earth Matters Hemp

BIO: Greg Smith has spent the past fifteen years on his off-grid sustainable farm located in the southernmost part of the Big Island, growing organic produce for a fifty-member Community Supported Agriculture cooperative, farmers markets, and many restaurants across the islands. In 2016, Greg was awarded a contract from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to research the genetics to create strains that would adapt to Hawaii’s unique environments and in 2018 Greg was awarded one of the first licenses to grow hemp and has been refining his research. He and his wife founded Earth Matters Hemp Farm.