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Oconto County is known as the gateway to the Northwoods of Wisconsin and an agriculturally oriented area. When Milwaukeean Drew Porter learned that a farmer friend of his was trying to come up with interesting ways to make use of tillable land he owns in Oconto County, he considered hemp, which caught Porter’s attention. The venture led to Northwoods Hemp Farm (not to be confused with Northwoods Hemp), makers of cannabidiol (CBD) cigarettes and tinctures.
Porter also had a personal interest in CBD. His father had been diagnosed with stage-four melanoma and had been “beat up” by his cancer treatments, and Porter knew a natural alternative like CBD could help his father recover. Porter, whose dad is doing well these days, says that was a motivator for him to get into the hemp business.
Porter, along with business partners Russell Franks and a third partner who asked to remain anonymous, researched the effects of CBD. In early 2019, they began putting a plan together to grow hemp and turn it into a product. “When you take part in the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s (DATCP) pilot program, you have to put together a proposal and contribute your research and experimentation to the program’s database of knowledge,” Porter explains.
They farmed their first hemp crop on five acres of land divided among two parcels. One was dedicated to seed hemp strains Cat Lady and Otto II. The other plot was dedicated to clones—Cherry, Cherry Wine and Wife strains. Porter says they used non-synthetic means to maintain soil, such as compost teas and worm castings, as well as chemical-free pest control measures. Weeding, pruning and watering was done by hand.
Challenges included frequent downpours, which required digging trenches to ensure proper drainage. Toward the end of the season, they had to pay significant attention to the sex of the plants; if male plants grow in the vicinity of female plants, which produce the flowers, they could pollinate the female plants. The energy that would go into flowers ends up going into seeds, which lowers the potency of CBD and other cannabinoids. Much time was spent pulling male plants from the fields. Porter notes it was hard to find affordable crop insurance for hemp. “A lot of people, including us, were not insured for bad weather.”
From Seed to Cig
Because the Wife strain was their top performer and the most potent, the Northwoods Hemp Farm team chose it to use in their CBD cigarettes, which they introduced this past January. “It’s aromatically intense. It’s also an indica-dominant strain, which has a more calming, relaxing effect.” Sativa, the other common strain in the cannabis family, can be more invigorating or uplifting. Porter notes ingesting CBD via inhalation increases bioavailability, versus taking it orally or topically. The cigarettes, sold in packs of 10, are free of tobacco and nicotine.
“We’re vertically integrated from seed to cig,” Porter emphasizes. “The cigarettes are rolled by us, with hemp grown on our fields that we tended to all summer. Larger competitors typically source from several farms, each of varying qualities, so you might not get the same results each time. Ours are also third-party tested for mold, fungicide, pesticides and heavy metals.”
Northwoods Hemp Farm also has full-spectrum CBD tinctures available in 1,000 milligrams. The cigarettes are available locally at Closet Classics and Laughing Grass’ West Allis location, and both the cigarettes and tinctures are available online.
Porter believes that Wisconsin can produce quality hemp, especially as people continue to look for natural alternatives for wellness. Although Wisconsin producers are competing against more mature markets on the West Coast, he remains optimistic. “A hundred years ago, Wisconsin was one of the largest producers of hemp,” he concludes. “Now that the door is starting to open again, it would be fun to take that trophy back.”
For more information, visit northwoodshempfarm.com.
