Homegrown is alright with me
Homegrown is the way it should be
Home grown is a good thing
Plant that bell and let it ring.
Neil Young, “Homegrown,” American Stars and Bars, 1977
Neil Young has written some classic songs about marijuana, and he’s been “rocking in the free world” for decades. As a businessman, Mr. Young has built and sustained a long-standing “brand” that still sells after 50 years – a brand based on a large, diverse body of music with themes ranging from personal anguish to love, pink cars and social causes. What’s more, Neil has gone further by directly engaging in these struggles for justice and environment. Clearly, Neil Young’s business acumen, musical talent and a dedication to doing the right thing have made for a potent mix – one that appeals to the hearts of everyday people all over the world.
Neil’s successful mix of quality and social message is well-suited as an example for us in the fledgling marijuana industry, which recently arose from an ongoing social struggle. Whether creating a brand for an individual company or creating an image for the industry, a focus on community benefit can boost any business model, and of course, a community focus is a natural fit for the marijuana industry. From my perspective, an obvious starting point for community action is embracing the legal homegrown movement. Homegrown marijuana production directly supports the causes of community health, sustainability, self-reliance and the personal liberty to grow pot, and it represents significant business opportunities.
Marijuana consumers would benefit greatly from a robust community of homegrown enthusiasts while expanding and diversifying the marijuana industry’s customer base. The benefits to consumers and community are promising, starting with obvious cost-savings and health and quality guarantees – clean, green and not-mean! At a home scale, the economics of growing extremely clean pot are much more flexible than growing clean at industrial scale. So, homegrown offers the consumer peace of mind and reliability. Plus, growing marijuana is FUN. It makes an excellent hobby and one can enjoy tangible benefits at beginner level, learning and improving along the way. (I make my own biochar, composts, bulk media, whatnot, but one can buy all that.) What’s more, the satisfaction of burning some properly grown and cured herb is beyond words. Finally, but significantly, growing herb represents two of our most revered, traditional values – the sanctity of individual liberty and its companion, self-reliance. Given the significant material and cultural benefits of growing at home, a LOT of people will come out from hiding and grow sustainable, clean herb when empowered to grow their own.
These industrious home-growers will expand the marijuana market and help support a plethora of goods and services providers. As with any market sector devoted to a hobby, the home grown market sector will be hungry for a wide range goods and services. From cultivation and curing gear to paraphernalia for packaging and consuming, home growers will buy products from a variety of businesses. These market opportunities will only expand as Cannabis integrates into the mainstream, attracting long-time food gardeners – at a time when food gardening is rapidly expanding.
Empowering marijuana home production is appealing on so many levels, and the timing is perfect. Let’s “plant that bell and let it ring.”