“Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children”
- Sitting Bull
Developing our cooperative structures
We understand that the future is not competition, it is cooperation.
That is why we are working to support the development of equitable ways to secure farmer participation in the future of an industry. We are interested in seed security for farmers and ultimately seed ownership as the need and industry re emerges. We are interested in providing technical assistance to tribal nations to grow hemp successfully. We are interested in learning from each other. We are interested in acquiring and gaining access to value added processing equipment to create hemp paper, hemp textiles and hempcrete housing. We are interested in creating regional cooperatives, because hemp does not need to travel far- and should be grown and adapted locally for the needs of our communities, and the land to which we belong. Hemp is essentially an open book which we can write, perhaps on hemp paper. To get there, we will need to work together, because, there is little knowledge in North American for the renaissance of this industry. That’s why we want to make a cooperative. We also want to make a cooperative, because Indigenous peoples share cooperative values not individualistic values. This is an opportunity to create this economy.
We call this economy, the New Green Revolution.
We are exploring other models of collectives, here are some examples:
Mondragon Cooperative // “How Mondragon Became the Word’s Largest Cooperative” The New Yorker
The Indigenous Cooperative Initiative
Cooperative Benefits to Farmers:
Community – Be a part of this community of indigenous leaders creating the new Green path.
Profitability — The goal is to be price competitive with alternative crops (ie soybean or corn or wheat)
Profit-Sharing — We are considering allowing farmers to be co-owners of the cooperative to allow for farmers to receive dividends on cooperative revenue derived from sales of processed hemp stalks
Health — Reduce your exposure to toxins for your own health and the health of our communities
Capital —Gain access to shared equipment. Our team has purchased equipment that is available to loan out to farmers
Seeds —Access to hemp seed discounts by buying in bulk
Let’s begin the conversation
Whether you're a farmer, investor, or seeking volunteer opportunities, reach out to us and get involved in the movement.