Beyond the Baja | Rethinking Hemp Markets

Exploring the Relative Advantage of Hemp with Aaron Furman
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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. This isn’t another summit recap or a celebration of pilot projects. We’re asking why the same people keep showing up on the same panels, why millions in grants never reach the farmgate, why the reports keep coming but the markets don’t. And why hemp is still being pitched as a miracle crop while the real barriers, the processing, the market readiness and infrastructure continue to get ignored. What you will find in this podcast is commentary, the occasional mental drift and possible a bird chirping in the background, because we’re not a studio-backed show, it's just Aaron and a mic. We’re a real-deal grassroots movement. If you're tired of the echo chamber and ready to talk about what it’s actually going to take to scale this industry—from equipment access to honest economics—this is your space. Whether you're in it for the long haul or just trying to make sense of it all, Beyond the Baja is a space for real conversations and future-forward thinking. Got thoughts? Share them. Got questions? Send them in. This isn’t just a podcast or a newsletter—it’s a growing conversation. And you’re part of it. aaronfurman1.substack.com

  1. BTB Hemp Podcast | Rep. G.T. Thompson's H.R. 7567 Deliberated

    16H AGO

    BTB Hemp Podcast | Rep. G.T. Thompson's H.R. 7567 Deliberated

    In this Special Episode, Aaron reads H.R. 7567 — introduced by Representative Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, Chair of the House Agriculture Committee — the next Farm Bill framework shaping federal agriculture through 2031. Chairman Thompson has framed the bill as bipartisan legislation shaped by listening to farmers, rural stakeholders, and industry experts. In public remarks, he described it as providing “modern policies for modern challenges,” reflecting feedback from across agricultural constituencies. To be clear, GT did a great job supporting progress for hemp as a whole, we hope they keep this ball moving forward! But hemp is not positioned as a central commodity within those remarks. It appears as a subsection within a much larger agricultural architecture. And while the language suggests consultation and stakeholder input, the structural question remains: who was actually listened to, and what version of the hemp industry made it into the room? This episode reads the statutory language itself — not the framing around it — and asks whether the result reflects structural clarity or negotiated ambiguity. H.R. 7567 — the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 — amends Section 297B of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, the backbone of federal hemp legalization. Inside that amendment sits a phrase that will shape the next phase of the industry: “only industrial hemp.” Aaron breaks down what that designation means, what it does not mean, and why declaration is not the same as separation. Congress is attempting compliance bifurcation between fiber and intoxicating markets. The question is whether that attempt creates structural clarity — or simply manages ambiguity. Building on S02E12 “The Divorce” and S02E13 “Apex Predator Lineage,” this episode revisits the core thesis of the season: when infrastructure and speculation share a legal identity, regulation will always be written for the louder segment. From energy deregulation to the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, history shows that definitional gray space rewards speed first and corrects under stress later. Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Hemp fiber cannot commoditize on a politically unstable definition. If it remains legally adjacent to intoxicating and synthesized cannabinoid markets, capital will continue to price that adjacency. Designation may calm the room. Redefinition builds foundation. If this series has helped you think more clearly about systems, structure, and the long arc of policy — whether in “The Divorce,” “Apex Predator Lineage,” or this episode — consider contributing. Independent analysis continues because serious operators value it. Success is not downloads. Success is understanding. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 18m

  2. 3D AGO

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E13 | Apex Predator Lineage

    In this episode, Aaron uses an unlikely case study — a senior Chinese Crested named Nor-BERT — to examine what happens when surface appearance overrides structural reality. At first glance, Norbert looks broken. Look closer and you find intact lineage. Genetics. Integrity. The tension becomes a systems question: how often do markets, policymakers, and investors react to signal instead of structure? See adoption link if you are interested in Adopting Nor-BERT (please let me come hang out if you find yourself as his caretaker). If you’ve followed the arc of this season — from claims under scrutiny to regulatory correction to The Divorce — the pattern should feel familiar. Visibility allocates power. This episode extends that framework into language itself. If you missed the prior episodes, go back. The argument compounds. And if this work is helping you see where signal is distorting capital and policy, consider supporting it. Independent analysis only continues if operators decide it matters. This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. Aaron then walks through how exposure scales faster than stewardship. A local hot spring collapses when visibility outruns norms. Industries drift when headlines outrun infrastructure. Surface signal photographs well. Structural reality survives stress. The difference determines where capital flows. The discussion pivots to the word “organic.” To a chemist, it means carbon-containing compounds. To the USDA’s National Organic Program, it means regulated production and audit-backed certification. To consumers, it signals trust. Same word. Three systems. Markets do not reconcile that divergence — they monetize it. Once a word becomes enforceable, it becomes infrastructure. From there, the lens returns to hemp. Fiber, grain, and flower are distinct structural realities operating under one public label. The most visible segment defines the category. Regulation follows visibility. Capital assigns volatility to the entire word. Fiber absorbs risk it did not generate. That is not ideology. It is systems behavior. The lesson: markets regulate what is visible, not what is load-bearing. If this framework sharpens how you think about signal, structure, and capital allocation, back the work that keeps mapping these patterns. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    39 min
  3. BTB Hemp Podcast S02E12 | The Divorce

    FEB 16

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E12 | The Divorce

    This episode begins in 1914. Not in the trenches — in the architecture. Bismarck’s alliance web. A 19-year-old with a pistol in Sarajevo. The Schlieffen Plan built on rigid mobilization assumptions. And the moment Big Ben rang in London and parts of the financial community believed the global monetary system was finished. It wasn’t finished. It reconfigured. If you’ve followed this season, we’ve examined hype cycles, policy correction, claims under scrutiny, and systems that mistake motion for maturity. This episode applies that same lens to rupture moments — when one configuration ends and another begins. Fast forward to Washington. November 12, 2025. The gavel drops. Cannabinoid definitions tighten. In parts of the hemp industry, the reaction was immediate: doom. Contracts frozen. Inventory stranded. Collapse language everywhere. But regulatory clarification does not destroy durable systems. It reveals fragile ones. If you missed the earlier episodes on course correction and structural instrumentation, revisit them. The framework compounds. And if this series is helping you see how policy stress separates narrative from architecture, support it. Independent analysis continues because disciplined operators value it. This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. From there, we move to John Maynard Keynes and his 1930s “beauty contest” analogy. Markets do not simply price value. They price what participants believe others will value. Second- and third-order expectation. That dynamic fueled the cannabinoid surge. Not throughput. Not standardized contracts. Not embedded infrastructure. Expectation. This episode draws a hard distinction between hemp flower and hemp fiber. One scaled on retail velocity and regulatory gray space.The other scales on contracts, processing capacity, standardized grades, and capital discipline. They are not the same business. Treating them as interchangeable delayed necessary separation. Now that separation is occurring. The Divorce is not about collapse. It is about clarity. When configurations shift, capital reallocates. Operators either replant into structure or continue chasing expectation. The question facing the industry is direct: Are you planting into what others might believe — or into what you can prove? The lesson: markets punish expectation when it lacks infrastructure. If this conversation sharpens how you interpret regulatory rupture and market psychology, engage with it. And if it strengthens how you position your operation for what comes after separation, back the work that keeps tracing these transitions. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    47 min
  4. BTB Hemp Podcast S02E11 | The Jeff Goldblum Dillema

    FEB 5

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E11 | The Jeff Goldblum Dillema

    This episode opens with a concept almost everyone references and almost no one understands correctly: the Butterfly Effect. Not the movie version.Not the motivational poster. The real one. Small inputs do not create chaos because they are dramatic. They create chaos because systems amplify them quietly — often invisibly — until the feedback loop is irreversible. That misunderstanding matters. Along the way, I take a brief detour through the era of celebrity science — yes, including Jenny McCarthy — not for mockery, but for illustration. When confidence and anecdote outrun verification, systems don’t just drift. They internalize error and label it truth. That is where Jeff Goldblum enters — not as an actor, but as a warning: “You didn’t stop to think if you should.” Most collapses are not malicious.They are optimism without audit. If you’ve followed this season, we’ve talked about instrumentation, claims under scrutiny, coordination through price. This episode examines why audits exist in the first place. Not the performative kind. The Tier-4 kind. The scrutiny designed to surface second- and third-order effects before scale hardens them. This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. Audits ruin good stories but they preserve real systems. If you missed the earlier episodes on proof and structure, go back. The framework compounds. And if this series is helping you think more critically about what you assume versus what you verify, support it. Independent analysis persists because operators choose rigor over comfort. Hemp appears here not as villain or hero, but as example. Soft standards. Expanding definitions. Actors moving quickly while assuming someone else validated the base layer. That pattern is not unique. It is industrial history repeating. The humor in this episode masks a direct warning: intuition scales poorly. Confidence scales worse. Verification scales slowly — but it endures. The lesson: systems fail when trust replaces testing. If this conversation sharpens how you approach risk, inspection, and second-order effects, engage with it. And if it strengthens how you build under scrutiny rather than assumption, back the work that keeps asking whether we should — not just whether we can. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    44 min
  5. BTB Hemp Podcast S02E10 | The Manchurian Candidate Pt. Deux

    JAN 23

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E10 | The Manchurian Candidate Pt. Deux

    What does a $400 pair of jeans represent? Not fashion.Coordination. In this episode, Aaron examines price as a compression mechanism — a single number that encodes millions of coordinated actions across fiber production, chemistry, logistics, capital, and risk. Mature systems like cotton and denim do not require instruction at every step. Standards, contracts, failure protocols, and audit layers already exist. Labor aligns without daily negotiation. Chemistry is specified before disputes arise. Risk is priced before it becomes litigation. That is institutional memory operating at scale. If you listened to Part One, we examined how claims become liabilities when structure is missing. This episode extends that logic into pricing. A label does not just carry marketing language — it carries the weight of the system beneath it. If you missed that first conversation, go back. The framework compounds. And if this series is helping you see how credibility and coordination interact, support it. Independent analysis persists because serious operators value rigor over rhetoric. This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. We revisit on-label claims — “sustainably sourced,” “regenerative,” “responsibly made.” Once printed, they are no longer narrative devices. They are cross-border declarations. They travel through customs reviews, procurement audits, and legal interpretation. Claims collapse when the systems beneath them are incomplete. Not because intent was malicious. Because coordination was assumed. Hemp fiber provides the case study. Hemp is not a replacement for cotton. Pretending otherwise weakens its position. Cotton is not merely a crop; it is a century-deep institutional system — standardized grades, futures markets, insurance structures, hedging mechanisms, established failure modes. Hemp, by contrast, remains early. Closer to intramural than major league. And that is not an insult. It is a stage. The episode walks through the tiered structure of real material systems: Farmers grow biomass.First-touch processors translate plants into usable material.Converters punish variability.Mills enforce repeatability.Brands inherit and amplify credibility. When those roles are respected and sequenced correctly, loops close. When they are not, risk migrates unpredictably — usually toward the least capitalized layer. Price signals reflect whether that coordination exists. This is not a discussion about miracle crops or disruption mythology. It is about what it actually takes for an emerging material to earn a place inside disciplined markets. The lesson: price is proof of coordination, not aspiration. If this episode sharpens how you evaluate where hemp truly sits inside global supply chains, engage with it. And if it strengthens how you build toward institutional maturity instead of narrative momentum, back the work that keeps drawing these distinctions. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min
  6. BTB Hemp Podcast S02E09 | The Manchurian Candidate Pt. Un

    JAN 6

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E09 | The Manchurian Candidate Pt. Un

    This episode examines claims the way operators, procurement teams and regulators do — as risk. The central question is direct: What has to exist for a hemp fiber claim to survive contact with scale? This is not an episode about optimism. It’s about exposure. Early in a market cycle, sustainability and regenerative claims sound reasonable. They gain traction. They attract capital. But once procurement departments, legal teams, and regulators begin asking basic verification questions, many of those claims weaken — not because the intent was malicious, but because the underlying system was never built. If you’ve followed this season, we’ve moved from hype without architecture to proof without instrumentation to mentorship without transmission. This episode applies that logic to language under liability. This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. If the earlier arc clarified how credibility is engineered, revisit it. The framework compounds. And if this series is helping you think more rigorously about risk inside supply chains, support it. Independent scrutiny survives because disciplined operators value it. We break down three categories of claims: Commitment claims — what you intend to do.Action claims — what you say you are doing.Performance claims — what you can prove you did. Confusing those categories has created real exposure across agriculture, textiles, and bio-based materials. Especially in hemp fiber, where language has frequently outrun infrastructure. A central focus is the on-label claim. The moment a statement appears on a hangtag, spec sheet, or product label, it stops being marketing. It becomes a declaration attached to a physical good. It travels through customs. It enters audits. It faces cross-border regulatory scrutiny. It invites legal interpretation. That is where many narratives fail. We examine how claims behave inside stressed supply chains. How they transfer liability upstream and downstream. How regulators assess them. How buyers hedge against them. Then the episode turns inward. As this show grows and attracts sponsorship interest — often from corners of the industry still operating in a Hemp 1.0 mindset — the tension becomes personal. Money carries gravity. Messaging can drift. Incentives shape tone. There is no clean resolution offered here. Only a reminder: Credibility is being priced quietly in this market.And once words enter the system, they no longer belong to you. The lesson: claims without structure become liabilities under scale. If this episode sharpens how you evaluate risk, engage with it. And if it strengthens your discipline around what you say — and what you can prove — back the work that keeps drawing these lines. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    42 min
  7. BTB Hemp Podcast S02E08 | When Knowledge Stopped Moving

    12/19/2025

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E08 | When Knowledge Stopped Moving

    Innovation is not what hemp lacks. Memory is. In this episode, Aaron examines a quieter structural failure inside the modern hemp sector — the breakdown of mentorship and institutional learning. Not as nostalgia. As infrastructure. We introduce the framework of BIG M and little m mentoring. BIG M is proximity to consequence — judgment formed under pressure, standards enforced through exposure. Little m is advice without accountability. Content without correction. Industries mature when knowledge moves through friction. When that transmission slows, standards drift. Drawing from conversations with Ken Elliott at IND Hemp in Montana and professional dialogue shaped in part by discussions with Eric Hurlock of The Industrial Hemp Podcast, this episode grounds the theory in operating reality. What does commodity discipline look like when it’s lived? What does it look like when it’s improvised? If you’ve followed this season, we’ve examined hype without architecture, certification without proof, and systems built on narrative rather than telemetry. This episode adds another layer: what happens when experienced operators are not structurally positioned to transfer judgment to the next tier? This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. If earlier episodes clarified how markets enforce discipline externally, this conversation addresses the internal mechanism. If you missed the prior arc, go back. The framework compounds. And if this series is helping you think more rigorously about how standards are transmitted inside your organization, support it. Independent analysis persists because serious practitioners decide it matters. We connect hemp’s transmission gap to older industrial systems — guild structures, commodity exchanges, apprenticeship models, and early manufacturing ecosystems where skill moved through observation and repetition, not webinar slides. Modern hemp often substitutes information for formation. But industries do not stabilize through content volume. They stabilize through enforced standards, repeated exposure, and consequence-based correction. This episode reframes mentorship not as workplace culture, but as economic necessity. Without structured knowledge transfer, supply chains remain fragile, regulation becomes reactive, and capital misprices risk. The core question is simple: Who is teaching the next operator how to think under constraint? The lesson: industries fail when experience stops compounding. If this conversation clarifies where your own systems lack continuity, engage with it. And if it strengthens how you invest in knowledge that survives cycles, back the work that keeps mapping these patterns. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    40 min
  8. BTB Hemp Podcast S02E07 | The Valhalla Problem

    12/09/2025

    BTB Hemp Podcast S02E07 | The Valhalla Problem

    Some episodes are planned. This was not. A disrupted week, a remote control, and an algorithm convinced I’m a Puerto Rican club kid who forges axes on weekends somehow turned into a 45-minute examination of Valhalla and the hemp supply chain. It makes more sense than it should. This episode uses Norse afterlife mythology as a filter for a simple industry question: when the era shifts, who gets remembered as a builder — and who is exposed as a tourist? If you’ve been following this season, we’ve moved from hype without architecture, to proof without instrumentation, to policy correction and industrial continuity. This conversation brings it down to identity. This Podcast is 100% reader-supported. To help support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber, the money goes towards helping me babble on and on about nothing of note. Who trained for the real market?Who trained for the afterparty? Through Beowulf, Ragnar Lothbrok, and even Raskolnikov from Crime and Punishment, we examine the psychology of operators under stress. Some build quietly in soil, throughput, and contracts. Others chase loopholes discovered at 2 a.m. after conference panels. When ambiguity collapses, mythology evaporates. Delta-8 was one reckoning. Federal correction was another. But beneath policy shifts sits something more personal: what were you optimizing for? If the previous episodes clarified how structure determines survival, this one asks who actually internalized those lessons. If you missed the earlier arc, go back. The argument compounds. And if this series is helping you evaluate what kind of operator you’re becoming, support it. Independent work continues because disciplined builders value uncomfortable questions. The Valhalla metaphor is not about theatrics. It’s about legacy under pressure. In Viking lore, only those who trained for battle entered the hall. The rest faded into obscurity. Industries work the same way. When markets tighten and policy hardens, the difference between soil-based discipline and loophole arbitrage becomes visible. Not emotionally. Mechanically. This episode is part reflection, part critique, and part stress test. Grief has a way of clarifying what endures. The question underneath the mythology is simple: When this era of hemp is studied a decade from now, what will remain? The lesson: markets remember builders, not performers. If this conversation forces an honest inventory, engage with it. And if it strengthens how you choose to build from here, back the work that keeps pressing on these edges. Get full access to Aaron Furman's Beyond the Baja Hemp Podcast at aaronfurman1.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min
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About

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. This isn’t another summit recap or a celebration of pilot projects. We’re asking why the same people keep showing up on the same panels, why millions in grants never reach the farmgate, why the reports keep coming but the markets don’t. And why hemp is still being pitched as a miracle crop while the real barriers, the processing, the market readiness and infrastructure continue to get ignored. What you will find in this podcast is commentary, the occasional mental drift and possible a bird chirping in the background, because we’re not a studio-backed show, it's just Aaron and a mic. We’re a real-deal grassroots movement. If you're tired of the echo chamber and ready to talk about what it’s actually going to take to scale this industry—from equipment access to honest economics—this is your space. Whether you're in it for the long haul or just trying to make sense of it all, Beyond the Baja is a space for real conversations and future-forward thinking. Got thoughts? Share them. Got questions? Send them in. This isn’t just a podcast or a newsletter—it’s a growing conversation. And you’re part of it. aaronfurman1.substack.com

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