Beck's Farma

Today I'm talking with Brandon at Beck's Farma. You can also follow on Facebook.

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00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Chelsea Green Publishing. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Brandon at Beck's Farma. Good morning, Brandon, how are you? Good morning, Mary, how are you? I'm great. Where are you located? Well.

00:26
The farm is located in Sauk Center, Minnesota, and I have a sister company that is called Chey En-Alise Canna Bakery, where I sell the oils for my farm in freshly baked pastries located in Minneapolis at 6001 Windale. Okay. Where is Sauk Center? What's the nearest city to Sauk Center? So Sauk Center is about an hour and a half west of Minneapolis and St. Paul on 94.

00:56
St. Cloud in Alexandria, so about 20 minutes from LA. Okay, cool, thank you. All right, tell me about yourself and what you do. Well, that's a long story, so I'm not sure where to begin. I was raised in Minnesota, and I ended up traveling the world for about 16 years, living in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America.

01:24
And as I began to get older, I realized that I wanted to also have family in my life. And so I made the decision to return to Minnesota. And I kind of came up with the idea that if I was farming, I would be able to spend my summers with family in Minnesota and continue traveling over the winter months. And so I returned to some family land in Sauk Center, Minnesota, and I planted a vineyard in a hop yard.

01:54
and started that dream for about two years. And in 2019, the farm bill legalized hemp, allowing people to grow and to harvest CBD. And that seemed like a good decision for me because the hop yard and the vineyard would take three to five years to develop where with the hemp products, I would be able to

02:23
begin to harvest that fall. I was also really interested in the medicinal benefits as an alternative medicine from CBD and cannabis. I saved my money, quit my job, planted the field in 2019 and had a successful year growing, harvested that fall. The drying process in harvesting takes about two weeks.

02:52
to three months of CBD in the CBD farming. It's a long process, the drawn in and curing before the processing. And so right around the time that was all done, the pandemic had happened. I had gone into growing to be a wholesaler to supply kind of the brick and

03:20
who were selling oils and things like that. And I had had some contracts around the state set up, but when things started to kind of move in 2020, everything stopped moving for me. And so I had to decide what I was going to do with this crop that I'd grown in 2019. And my decision was to have the oil processed and...

03:49
found my own CBD company and began selling products online. And so that was how Bex Pharma started. And I think there was a lot said there, so I'll give you a chance to, and everyone a chance to kind of catch up or ask questions. Uh-huh. Okay. So you pivoted just like a lot of people pivoted in 2020, which is great. I'm glad you had the wherewithal and the opportunity to do that.

04:19
I have questions. I have so many questions because I don't use CBD at all, never have. And so I am like the dumbest person when it comes to hemp, marijuana, any of it. So my first question is, is a hemp plant different from a marijuana plant? Are they the same thing or are they different? So scientifically, they're the same plant. They're both cannabis sativa.

04:48
Legally, they're different because of the contain. So basically hemp is defined as less than 0.3% of delta-9-THC.

05:13
cannabinoid that is found in the cannabis plant and is what is traditionally used when you think of somebody getting high. While the two plants are the same, marijuana is more to get you high and CBD or not CBD but hemp, well that's rich in a cannabinoid called CBD.

05:43
properties because it wasn't until very recently a schedule one drug. It was really difficult for scientists to do clinical research with it because of the restrictions and the costs. But there have been a few studies and those are kind of the only things that I'll talk about as far as making claims for the efficacy of CBD, but there is a

06:13
a lot of benefits that are out there that are just kind of spoken or common knowledge. So things that I won't go over that people seem to really be benefiting from. So CBD was first discovered when it was found that it was able to stop seizures in children with certain types of epilepsy.

06:41
And that's kind of when it first really got recognition that, wow, this is actually, you know, really going in and doing something major within the human body. And since then, it's been found that it's an anti-inflammatory. I'm trying to think now of what is actually specifically cited in science.

07:07
So it's an anti-inflammatory. It's shown to lower blood pressure and keep it low. It's been shown in higher doses of 150 to 300 milligrams to help reduce anxiety, to help with people to get better sleep, like with insomnia.

07:29
And I can get more scientific about something called the endocannabinoid system, but I'll give you another chance to ask questions here if you'd like, because it is a lot of information. It is. And when I looked at your Facebook page and your website, I was like, this is going to be a very sciencey discussion. But my other question that isn't quite as sciencey, we can come back to what you were just saying.

07:54
Yeah. Do you grow your crop outside or do you have it in like a greenhouse? So I'm an outdoor grower. I plant the field by hand doing about 10,000 lunches in a single day. And the reason that I do it in a single day is because I know that the next day I'll be unable to walk for about the next week or so. And so I just get out there and get it in and see what comes up.

08:24
kind of let nature take its course and suppress the weeds. Okay, so does it grow like a weed? I mean, that sounds really funny, no pun intended. Does it grow really easily? Well, that depends. So to create some further confusion, so we have marijuana, we have hemp, and then we have hemp that's grown for fiber. And so the hemp that's planted for fiber does grow kind of like a weed, but that's because it's really broadcast.

08:53
into the field, just throwing millions of seeds together like grass as close as you can. When they grow together that way, like they would in nature, just dropping their seeds and having a field of hemp or marijuana, then they do grow like a weed because they grow very tall, they grow very fast, and they're very good at creating a canopy and taking out everything around them. But when you're growing for CBD, you have to put

09:22
space between the plants so that they have room to breathe so that mold and mildew doesn't grow in the field and In these spaces, which is generally between three to six feet. I usually go around four or five between plants um a lot of weeds come in and So very early in the growing season a lot of those weeds actually outgrow The hemp plants and so it's pretty difficult. You're almost out there

09:49
on your hands and knees pulling away the weeds trying to find your plants for a while and really getting after it. It's pretty labor intensive. The plants, they have three phases. They have their seedling stage which takes about a month. They're really, really small and really delicate at this time in that first month or so.

10:19
what is called the vegetation stage. And the plants themselves are photosensitive, meaning that they respond really greatly to the sun. And they will continue growing as long as there's more than 14 hours of daylight. And typically that's closer to 16 hours or so. But if you were to keep the light on them for 16 hours, they would grow indefinitely into trees, you know, and get really, really big. But.

10:48
the vegetation stage is also, it's faster than when they're seedlings, but it takes some time. So really about knee high by the 4th of July is pretty good. And as you get later into the year, when the sun is less than 14 hours, that's when they hit this really big growth spurt. And however big they are in the field at that time, in about September or so, they're

11:18
they'll usually double their size in that last month or two of the growing season. And at that point, it's pretty easy. Then you're able to just watch it grow. And it's more like a weed to give a very long answer to the question. No, that's great because I know nothing about this. And because this is a Tiny Homestead podcast, I'm very interested in how different plants do what they do. So does it like...

11:47
Do the plants appreciate like a loamy soil or do they like sandy soil? Well yeah they don't like wet feet and so but loamy to sandy is good you know as long as it drains and I find that it does the best on a hillside you know where they get a lot of water you know a lot of nutrients running down them but then they get to dry out fast.

12:17
Did the rain hurt you this spring? No, not this year, but there has been, the funniest thing, so I decided to start farming. Well, Minnesota got its worst droughts in the history year after year after year. And in the middle of those was some really big weather events. I think we had a derecho where a hurricane actually came all the way to Minnesota.

12:46
And that left about a four foot trough in my field, like right down the middle of it. There was just a river and, um, and the field had, you know, standing, not standing water, but at one point the water was about probably two to three feet high. Um, because, because it was so dry and then we ended up with so much rain so fast. And um, and I kind of felt, you know, some of the times in the spring out there plowing the field, almost like I had a sense of what it felt like to be in the dust bowl.

13:17
you know, I'm on about a 32 horsepower John Deere with a small tiller on the back to work up about seven acres. And it was so dusty on some of those days. I think probably you could have seen me from space. Yeah. The weather affects everybody who grows produce. It doesn't matter what you're producing. If you're growing a plant, the weather is going to affect you. Okay. So that helps out a lot.

13:47
is when the law went into effect, I think it was last summer about marijuana being legal in Minnesota, and I know there's a whole bunch of little nitpicky things that go with that. Did you dance a jig or were you just like, okay, cool? Well, that's a very interesting question. So legalization occurred in Minnesota for adult use of marijuana.

14:17
And under the current laws, that means that adults can possess, I think, up to four pounds of marijuana, they can have a certain amount of plants growing at home and they can gift up to one ounce between each other. But the sale of marijuana is still prohibited. So it's still under prohibition and it really meant that there have been no changes as of yet.

14:46
in the cannabis industry. There are some Indian reservations, I believe four, that have opened dispensaries under their jurisdiction. And so currently in the state, there are four dispensaries, but for the rest of the industry, there's none. So it didn't really change anything for you yet? Not yet.

15:14
This is where it gets kind of interesting. So the, the state has, um, just started a new office called the office of cannabis management, and they're currently writing the rules for, for how the sale is going to occur and in the future. And at this point, I believe the start date of, um, where it's going to be legally bought and sold is going to be sometime mid

15:44
2025. So we're still looking at almost another year. Now, when that does occur, and when the new rules do come out, which it's kind of hard to speculate what they'll be, there's only going to be 150 people given a license to sell within the state of Minnesota. And of those 150 people, 75 will be from a social equity program.

16:14
Currently, there are 3,400 registered sellers for low potency cannabis in Minnesota. Of those 3,400, 150 will be chosen and it's a lottery. It won't be based really on anything beyond the lottery. You have to qualify for the lottery, but beyond that, it's going to be completely random.

16:44
Now there are 3,400 other companies as of now, but I know that a lot of them are putting in multiple applications, just kind of founding companies that really don't exist and throwing their name in the hat. So the real number is probably going to be closer to 5 or 10,000 applying for basically 75 spaces. Not including the social equity.

17:13
program. And so it's going to be kind of interesting who gets it. And just quickly at the end, that's simply because if the 150 people that are chosen, if they don't have a supply to keep up with the demand in our state, they will kind of come into it with a shortage. So hopefully, at least one of the names will be able to supply the demand.

17:42
Sure. Yeah. I hadn't even thought of that. Even if you don't, even if you don't get picked, you can still, you can still supply somebody who does get chosen. Yes. Is that what you're saying? No, no, I'm saying so, so if I was chosen, for example, it would be my responsibility then to supply one 150th of the state's cannabis. Okay. And I could probably only supply, you know, 100 or 200 people a week. And, and so

18:11
So they're just, depending on who's chosen, there may not be any supply. You know, so it'll be legal. It'll be legal to buy and sell. But if the, if someone like me was the only one in control, we would only have, uh, you know, a supply for a few, a few hundred people a week. Yeah. I misunderstood what you were saying. I got it. Thank you. Um, okay. So when this, this hit the news last year.

18:40
My husband and I were chatting about it because neither one of us smoke marijuana. We don't use any of it because we just don't. And I said, I feel like our government might be putting the cart before the horse on this because I'm not seeing a whole lot of what the rules are. And my husband said, I don't think they know what the rules are yet. And this was when it first came out, you know, when we first heard about it. And so...

19:05
I think that this is a very progressive move. I don't think it's a bad move. I just think that maybe there should have been more things thought about before it was passed. Does that make sense to you? It makes perfect sense. And I think that your interpretation, both you and your husband was exactly right. And I think most of the people at the Capitol would probably agree except for the one or two that actually drafted the bill that went through. But with that said,

19:35
They're doing a really good job of trying to keep up with what's has happened and, and not taking it back. You know, they're, they're trying to go forward and, um, the office of cannabis management, they took over August 1st of, of this year and they, they weren't supposed to do that. Uh, the, the department of health had the cannabis control under the medical marijuana program, along with, I believe the department of agriculture until August.

20:04
But they opened their office about a year in advance to help kind of straighten things out and really try to get a hold on what's going on. And since they've been in control, it does seem to be working a lot better. And then I would also add there that legalization isn't something new. And I am a little bit surprised that the lawmakers don't look to other states like

20:33
you know, California or Colorado or Oregon that have been doing this for years. And I think it would be pretty easy to borrow, you know, some tricks from their playbooks and, and see what has worked and what doesn't work and, and all the information's there to really have kind of a really seamless interchange from prohibition to legalization.

21:00
And so it would be interesting to see if they do adopt some of those practices that are already working across America. I forget how many states now, but I think over half. So is the Office of whatever it was you just said, are they actually consulting with the growers to learn something about this or not?

21:31
It's hard for me to speak on their behalf. I know that I've spoken to some staff there that I've known since 2019 as a, as a hemp grower and they're very knowledgeable and they've been pushing this forward since Minnesota's hemp pilot program in 2016, which was three hours, three years before the, the farm bill. So there are a few people that really do know what's going on at the.

21:59
at the top end of it. And I think that a lot of the criticism that is coming from the public and what's being seen is that there's a lot of confusion across agencies within the government and that there is a lot of education that's happening now to bring a lot of people up to speed. But I think that there are a few people at the top that are steering the shift in the right direction.

22:29
And they are very much, we were just given 122 pages of the rules, a draft of the rules for 2025 and asked by the office of cannabis management to review them and post suggestions. So they're really very open to discussions on figuring out how to make it work within the industry.

22:58
And so hopefully, hopefully enough great minds are working together now to have kindness transition. Good. That's what I was worried about when this all came through. I was like, I really hope the people at the top who may not understand all the ins and outs of this talk to the people who are actually growing the plants and have, you know, expertise in what they're doing so that we've got two

23:25
two ends of the spectrum coming together to make it work? Absolutely. And there's obviously going to be things that go wrong and probably some things that are really frustrating and obvious. But I believe that, you know, over the course of the next few years that things will will get ironed out pretty smoothly. Sure, of course. I mean...

23:53
You gotta get in there and experience the thing before you can know what's working and what isn't. So it's like any other thing that you're growing. Okay, so I'm gonna shift back to actual growing the plants and harvesting the plants subject again, because I can't stay on one track today. When you harvest the plants, are you harvesting the...

24:18
the part that you use for the CBD by hand or do you do it with a machine or how do you harvest your crop? Well, so there's kind of two harvests and I do that myself because there's male and female cannabis plants. So the female are the ones that growers and users want to target because that's the one that grows the flower.

24:44
that people use to either smoke or extract for CBD or THC or the other cannabinoids. There's ways to ensure that you get only females. Like you can buy specialized seeds or you can buy clones, but it ends up costing about a dollar per plant. So my strategy is to pay about three cents a seed and just put so many seeds that I can afford to take out about half of the field mid-summer.

25:14
And so about midsummer, when the sun starts to change, the plants will start to show which sex they are. And at that point, the first harvest kind of begins and the male plants are called from the field. And kind of, you know, I burn them and destroy them. And there's not really a good argument for another use for them other than feed. You know, I think it might make good feed. But

25:42
but it's currently restricted under FDA laws. So to the second harvest of the year, in about October, November, if you're really lucky, they're a really, really hardy plant. You know, so they actually kind of love the cold. And I've seen my field go to temperatures as low as about, I want to say, you know, 19 degrees at night and come back the next day and live.

26:12
And so, so when all the leaves are gone, when all the grass is brown, uh, the field is still green and it looks like a lot of evergreens out there. Basically it looks like a Christmas tree farm. And, um, and so at that point of the year, I'm really kind of watching two things. Uh, the weather, you know, at a certain point, the weather will ultimately destroy them and so you really have to watch that. But in Minnesota, because it's a short growing season,

26:40
The plants don't get a chance to fully mature. And so I'm really trying to push my harvest date as far back as I can. And, um, a lot of the testing will begin in the field, you know, so I'll, I'll start taking random samples to see how close I am to the potency of the plant that I, I want to have and, um, and I'll, I'll base a lot of risks and, um, decisions on that, you know, if, if I'm going to have bad weather, but the CBD content is low. Uh,

27:10
maybe I'll take a risk and let it grow for another week. And, but if it's high enough, I'll go ahead and harvest. Which brings me to the answer to that question is that the entire plant is harvested. And so I'll go out with, you know, sometimes a machete is a good way to do it. And basically just kind of hack the field down by the stocks, just row by row by row, and then gather them into a trailer.

27:40
and bring those up to the drying facility where they're actually hung one by one upside down to dry. And at that point, start to introduce climate control with a lot of fans, dehumidifiers, checking the relative humidity, and really making sure that air is moving through those and that no mold or anything is coming. And that process, you know,

28:08
It takes several months if you do it right, the kind of drying and curing process. So the work almost really begins after the harvest. So yeah, we take the whole plant. And when that's dry, and when it's ready, then we do something called bucking the plant. And so we'll go in to the, well, I'll go in to where the plants are drying.

28:37
and take them down one by one and basically grab them by the root and put my other hand kind of in a circle around each stem and just buck off all of the flower and the cannabinoid-rich material into a totes. And at that point, it's ready for processing. So this is labor-intensive for you and you are absolutely a farmer.

29:06
That's not a whole lot different than the threshing process with wheat. Yeah, I think my grandfather said the most important thing a farmer can put into their field is their feet. And I found that to be very true. I think there's not a day from May until pretty much December that I'm not out walking amongst these plants, whether they're in the field or hanging.

29:36
the drive. It's a very much everyday job. Okay, so we're almost at 30 minutes but I have two more things. One is about do you love what you do and the other one is about do you save any of the seed to grow again or can you not do that? I absolutely love the industry. You know it's really rewarding. I have a couple of other companies like I said.

30:06
But this one, really to see the changes that brings about people. You know, I've had customers who have called and told me that they used to be a potter in ceramics and that their arthritis had become too bad to be at the wheel anymore. And that after using my product, they're able to go back and actually continue doing what they love and get this quality of life back.

30:35
Um, I've seen, uh, dogs that when I've arrived to a house of someone that were unable to get up from the yard to, uh, to do, you know, to greet you coming in the gates or anything, and, um, after about a week of, uh, taking the oil. So it works for animals to, um, you know, arrive to that same house and had the dog jump up and come to the gate, jumping at it with the tail wagging.

31:03
And, and so to actually see these kinds of transformations in people and animals and to realize that what I'm doing, all this work in the field and in the drying and in the legal processes, that at the end of the day, it's really helping a lot of different people in a lot of different ways. Um, and so.

31:26
With the seeds, I have experimented a little bit with regrowing, but you have to be very careful because if my plants go above the 0.3% level of THC that's defined as hemp, I have to destroy my crop. When I'm just taking a seed from one of my plants and putting it back in the field, I'm not certain about what that potency is going to be because I've never seen those genetics perform.

31:55
So it would be kind of playing roulette with the season. And so I generally source my seeds. OK. And then I have one more question, because I just thought of it. You know how when you go to buy tomato seed plants, there's like a whole bunch of different varieties of tomato plants? Are there a whole lot of different varieties of hemp plants or not? Yeah. There's.

32:24
Each one has its own specific profile. And so I would think of it more of like a racehorse, right? Where you're really looking at the pedigree and choosing it for very specific qualities. So there's two forms of cannabis. One is an indica, the other is a sativa. And the indica tends to make people more kind of tired and lazy.

32:53
tends to be kind of more of an uplifting high. And so there's kind of a divide when you start to look for genetics, whether you want that up energy high or kind of that low relaxing high. And so you kind of start your search from there. And then you start to look at other characteristics of the plant, like what is the final counts on the THC and the CBD content, and you're looking at what climates they grow, you know, how much they yield.

33:22
But I would say that it's probably more specialized than any other plant in the world as far as engineering. You know, people are constant. There's no two seeds that are the same. And people are really feverishly working to create new strains. So it's really interesting. That was what I was trying to find the word, strains. Yes, thank you. Yeah. Okay.

33:48
Well, Brandon, like I said, I figured this was going to be a very sciencey discussion and it has been. And I'm really, really glad that you took the time to talk to me about all this because I have been so curious since the law got changed in Minnesota last year and I've been trying to find someone to interview and you're it? Yeah. I hope it wasn't too sciencey. No, no, it's fine. I can be interesting too.

34:14
No, no, I think science is really interesting. And I have talked with three or four different people in the last six months about goat genetics and that's very sciencey too. And that was really interesting. So I'm all for science. I'm all for just the general discussion of what you grow and how do you grow it. But I like science. Science is fun. So thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, Brandon. I really appreciate it. And what do you mind?

34:42
I also have, I've opened the first Canna Bakery in Minnesota and I thought that I might mention that as well. Well, I have the chance. Yes, if you have time, I have time. Yeah, I have all the time in the world, but I know the podcast is probably limited. So in January of this year, I began the licensing processes and working with the Office of Management and the Minneapolis Health Department and founded Minnesota's first Canna Bakery.

35:12
And it is what it sounds like, but it's probably a new word to everyone because I believe I may have invented it, at least in the state. So we have a bakery that serves scones, muffins, cookies, shortbread, and other pastries and items, including my CBD oil for my field. And it's the first in the state. And

35:41
It was finally, all the licensing went through in about July. And so we've been open about six weeks at 6001 Lyndale Avenue in south Minneapolis. And, uh, and I'm really excited about that project because currently in the market, there's a lot of drinks and there's a lot of gummies and there's not a lot else that's been explored. You know, there's this huge industry, but everybody's selling the same two items. And, um, and now.

36:10
Minnesota has a Canna bakery. That's awesome. Congratulations. Thank you. You sound very excited about this. Well, I am. It's, it's, um, it's kind of a continuation of the project that I'd started in 2019. So when the, when the pandemic came, I really got, you know, it took a lot of years to kind of recover from that. And, um, but I continued growing and continued having kind of the surplus of cannabinoids and, and now. You know, here we are.

36:41
five years since 2019 that I'm able to actually kind of go back and chase that dream again within the cannabis industry. So it is very exciting. And to be the first at something is also very exciting. Oh, absolutely. And I feel like the sky's the limit for you because things are changing in this field. I hope so. Yeah. All right. So was that all you needed to say? Yeah. I thought I should mention it at least. It's Minnesota State.

37:10
history. So yeah, depending on how you look at it. Well, it's the first. So I'd mention it. Blow your own horn whenever you can in a public venue if you're trying to get the word out. All right, Brandon. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Have a great day. You too. Bye-bye.