Exploring the Relative Advantage of Hemp with Aaron Furman

Beyond the Baja | Rethinking Hemp Markets

Business EN ↓ 30 episodes

Beyond the Baja started the way most good things do—out of frustration, curiosity and a refusal to stay quiet. I was tired of watching the hemp conversation drift away from reality. A lot of noise. Very little execution. Farmers taking risk. Processors under built. Policy celebrated before it produces anything measurable. We’re here to talk about what actually matters: infrastructure, farmer equity, supply chain transparency, market shifts, and the policies that either build or break this industry. No fluff. No hype. Just honest discussions about what it will really take to move hemp forward....

Author

Exploring the Relative Advantage of Hemp with Aaron Furman

Episodes

Hemp S01E04 - “A Rose By Any Other Name” 06.04.2025 15:50

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare was speaking about love. This episode applies the question to industrial hemp. In theory, substance should outweigh labels. In practice, labels determine policy, capital access, and enforcement posture. Hemp does not struggle because the fiber lacks utility. It struggles because the word “Cannabis” ca...

Hemp S01E03 - "The Choice" 30.03.2025 16:58

In this episode, Aaron examines a fork in the road facing Tier 4 hemp producers — the farmers. The decision is simple on paper: Commit to verified, traceable fiber. Or move unverified material into a market that may not check — yet. But this is not an accounting choice. It is a positioning decision. Early in the recording you may hear my dog in the background, asleep at my feet. I left it in. The...

Hemp S01E01 - "The Echo Chamber" 27.03.2025 34:14

In this inaugural episode, Aaron opens Season One by confronting an uncomfortable truth: the U.S. hemp industry is not stalled because it lacks passion. It is stalled because it lacks structure. For years, the conversation has circled the same terrain — pilot programs, summits, policy roundtables, investment “interest.” Meanwhile, farmers are still waiting for contracted offtake. Processors are st...

Hemp S01E02 - Learning from our Past 26.03.2025 24:11

In this episode, Aaron moves from Dallas in 1963 to Sarajevo in 1914, from Plato’s Republic to the American founding — not to romanticize history, but to examine leverage. Certain moments alter the trajectory of nations. A gunshot in a motorcade. A pistol on a bridge. An idea about governance written centuries earlier. But beneath those events sits something quieter. Invention. Not invention as no...

Beyond the Baja: Episode 2 - Learning from our Past 26.03.2025 24:11

Welcome to the latest episode of Beyond the Baja , where we take a winding journey through history—one that starts with the uncertainty of JFK’s assassination, transitions through Gavrilo Princip’s fateful moment, explores the wisdom of Plato, and lands with the timeless insights of our Founding Fathers. At first glance, this might seem like an odd mix of topics. But as we dig deeper, we uncover h...