Cannabis Breeder Reflects on the Cultural Importance of Hemp

Hemp has played a role in the lives of humans for a very long time, according to this week’s podcast guest, Jeremy Klettke, cannabis breeder and owner of Davis Farms, based in Oregon and Massachusetts.

“It’s clearly culturally assimilated with us. It’s clearly evolved with us,” he said, “when you talk about it from an endogenous cannabinoid perspective.”

“Whatever we ask for, the plant seems to give,” he said. “Food, fuel, fiber — any of it, it’s giving us these incredible versions of it. So there’s clearly been a parallel evolution.”

Klettke has been working internationally with the cannabis plant since the early 1990s and shares many tales from his experience on this episode.

While living and working in Copenhagen in the 1990s, he caught a glimpse of the cannabis trade that has existed internationally for thousands of years, an experience he called “profound.”

“It definitely helped me to recognize that, you know, this plant was a culturally important part of our civilization for ... I didn’t know how long,” he said.

As a plant breeder, he shares his views on genetics and the role THC plays in the plant. He suggests that breeding THC out of hemp altogether will have unintended consequences.

“When you remove THC, you’re removing one of the primary defense mechanisms,” he said.

THC also happens to be the compound responsible for psychoactive properties of cannabis which, he said, humans have been using as a spiritual tool since prehistoric times.

He cited the Dogon tribe in Mali, which would ingest fermented cannabis during their religious ceremonies.

This interview covers a lot of territory. 

Davis Farms

https://davishempfarms.com/

News Nuggets

Hemp uses and potential economic impact in Pa.

https://www.witf.org/2023/11/13/hemp-uses-and-potential-economic-impact-in-pa/

Is hemp making a comeback? Tennessee farmers eye an era beyond CBD

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2023/11/15/tn-farmers-eye-hemp-production-facilities-past-cbd/71301942007/

Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council

https://www.pahic.org/

Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council's introductory video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fFW4d3Bykg

Thanks to our Sponsors:

IND HEMP

https://indhemp.com/

National Hemp Association

https://nationalhempassociation.org/

Cornell University's Master’s of Professional Studies in Integrative Plant Sciences with a concentration in hemp sciences.

https://cals.cornell.edu/school-integrative-plant-science