Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
He fled the Midwest for the mountain vistas of southern Oregon a decade ago, and now earns nearly six figures running a farm in a river valley surrounded by the green-covered Siskiyou Range.
But Michael Johnson – one of those young, creative types which Nebraska cities are so eager to lure – would pack up his family of four and come home right away if marijuana became legal in this state.
"I would be there on Day 1," he said.
Johnson, a 2005 Lincoln East graduate, is one of many entrepreneurs who view his home state as fertile ground for a lucrative, regulated and safe marijuana retail market, if state law would allow it.
He's also a patient.
Two small capsules of cannabis oil each day have obliterated his severe irritable bowel syndrome and its related symptoms, including weight loss and nausea, he said.
He smokes pot, too – "every now and then" – but with two companies to run and two small children to care for, "I've got far too much to do to make myself intoxicated."
Johnson, 29, is chief operating officer for a large-scale cannabis farm in the Applegate Valley, at the heart of southern Oregon's wine country. The farm looks similar to a vineyard, with 40,000 square feet of plants for recreational and medicinal products sold at about 100 retail dispensaries.
His other company is a laboratory, which extracts oil from some of the farm's plants for sale as hemp oil or cannabis tincture, infused alcohol with medicinal and recreational uses.
He oversees 15 full-time employees between the two businesses, plus 20 temporary workers during fall harvest.
This wasn't his life goal 10 years ago. He didn't have one, he said.
"I was a pretty good kid," Johnson said in a phone interview last week. "I got good grades. Was on the honor roll. Was a standout athlete."
He made the Journal Star's Super-State soccer team his senior year, and became a scholarship forward for Hastings College. But he didn't have the chops to go pro, and figured he'd get a business degree "like everybody else."
"There was no passion. There was no real vision for my life," he said. "Ten years ago, I saw the writing on the wall."
After six weeks in college, he returned to Lincoln. After a few months here, he headed west and took a job on an organic vegetable farm in Eugene.
He and his wife, Lincoln native Crystal Staberg, opened a resale clothing boutique in Grants Pass in 2011, then sold it three years later after Michael became general manager of a medical marijuana dispensary in the nearby city of Talent.
Oregon voters approved recreational marijuana later that year, and the state began accepting applications for growers, wholesalers, processors and retail outlets in January 2016.
Johnson took his current job, at Siskiyou Sungrown, last spring.
"This was Mike's journey," said his dad, Jeff Johnson. "I'm extremely proud of where he's at."
Michael has two older brothers: One teaches at the University of Oregon, the other runs a museum in upstate New York.
Their dad, who helps parent companies evaluate their franchisees, says he wouldn't necessarily have endorsed every decision his sons made at age 19. Now he can't conceal the pride in his voice.
"I wish I could invest in his company to be honest," Jeff Johnson said of his youngest son. "He really is an expert."
Michael Johnson speaks clearly and confidently about the promise he sees in marijuana, and the science behind that potential.
He prefers outdoor growing because it requires fewer resources and is less taxing on the environment, he said.
He believes nowhere in the U.S. can beat southern Oregon and northern California for growing marijuana outdoors for human consumption: "We have the best climate and geography possible for this kind of agriculture."
The prevalence of so-called "ditch weed" in Nebraska would present a challenge for outdoor growers here, he said, because keeping female plants unpollinated is key to a good product.
But if marijuana became legal nationwide, this state could become a hotbed for industrial hemp cultivation.
"The potential in Nebraska is unbelievable," Johnson said, "once the corn and soybean farmers realize the cost per acre they can realize from industrial hemp."
Tom Clemente, a professor of biotechnology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said many questions need to be answered before it's precisely clear how a marijuana market would unfold here.
His research focuses on engineering hemp to produce oil in its leaves and stalks, which could then be used for industrial products such as lubricants and plastics.
Hemp's success in Nebraska would depend on how much value can be squeezed from each plant, Clemente said.
Medical and recreational marijuana production will depend on demand. Farmers can take steps to keep ditch weed at bay and grow recreational cannabis outdoors, he said, and indoor grow operations can appeal to medical marijuana producers looking for a controlled environment.
Unless state and federal laws change, those theories will remain untested on a large scale.
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, has made "ignorant" statements about marijuana, Johnson said.
Yet Johnson sees no clarity in Trump's stance on cannabis.
"Who knows what he's gonna do?" Johnson said. "Trump's a businessman, and I wouldn't be surprised if he allowed states to continue to operate their legal, state-run programs."
As for legalization in Nebraska?
"I wait for that day," he said. "Until then, we'll be happily farming in Oregon."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lincoln East Grad Eager To Bring Marijuana Business To Nebraska
Author: Zach Pluhacek
Contact: (402) 473-7306
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Lincoln Journal Star
But Michael Johnson – one of those young, creative types which Nebraska cities are so eager to lure – would pack up his family of four and come home right away if marijuana became legal in this state.
"I would be there on Day 1," he said.
Johnson, a 2005 Lincoln East graduate, is one of many entrepreneurs who view his home state as fertile ground for a lucrative, regulated and safe marijuana retail market, if state law would allow it.
He's also a patient.
Two small capsules of cannabis oil each day have obliterated his severe irritable bowel syndrome and its related symptoms, including weight loss and nausea, he said.
He smokes pot, too – "every now and then" – but with two companies to run and two small children to care for, "I've got far too much to do to make myself intoxicated."
Johnson, 29, is chief operating officer for a large-scale cannabis farm in the Applegate Valley, at the heart of southern Oregon's wine country. The farm looks similar to a vineyard, with 40,000 square feet of plants for recreational and medicinal products sold at about 100 retail dispensaries.
His other company is a laboratory, which extracts oil from some of the farm's plants for sale as hemp oil or cannabis tincture, infused alcohol with medicinal and recreational uses.
He oversees 15 full-time employees between the two businesses, plus 20 temporary workers during fall harvest.
This wasn't his life goal 10 years ago. He didn't have one, he said.
"I was a pretty good kid," Johnson said in a phone interview last week. "I got good grades. Was on the honor roll. Was a standout athlete."
He made the Journal Star's Super-State soccer team his senior year, and became a scholarship forward for Hastings College. But he didn't have the chops to go pro, and figured he'd get a business degree "like everybody else."
"There was no passion. There was no real vision for my life," he said. "Ten years ago, I saw the writing on the wall."
After six weeks in college, he returned to Lincoln. After a few months here, he headed west and took a job on an organic vegetable farm in Eugene.
He and his wife, Lincoln native Crystal Staberg, opened a resale clothing boutique in Grants Pass in 2011, then sold it three years later after Michael became general manager of a medical marijuana dispensary in the nearby city of Talent.
Oregon voters approved recreational marijuana later that year, and the state began accepting applications for growers, wholesalers, processors and retail outlets in January 2016.
Johnson took his current job, at Siskiyou Sungrown, last spring.
"This was Mike's journey," said his dad, Jeff Johnson. "I'm extremely proud of where he's at."
Michael has two older brothers: One teaches at the University of Oregon, the other runs a museum in upstate New York.
Their dad, who helps parent companies evaluate their franchisees, says he wouldn't necessarily have endorsed every decision his sons made at age 19. Now he can't conceal the pride in his voice.
"I wish I could invest in his company to be honest," Jeff Johnson said of his youngest son. "He really is an expert."
Michael Johnson speaks clearly and confidently about the promise he sees in marijuana, and the science behind that potential.
He prefers outdoor growing because it requires fewer resources and is less taxing on the environment, he said.
He believes nowhere in the U.S. can beat southern Oregon and northern California for growing marijuana outdoors for human consumption: "We have the best climate and geography possible for this kind of agriculture."
The prevalence of so-called "ditch weed" in Nebraska would present a challenge for outdoor growers here, he said, because keeping female plants unpollinated is key to a good product.
But if marijuana became legal nationwide, this state could become a hotbed for industrial hemp cultivation.
"The potential in Nebraska is unbelievable," Johnson said, "once the corn and soybean farmers realize the cost per acre they can realize from industrial hemp."
Tom Clemente, a professor of biotechnology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said many questions need to be answered before it's precisely clear how a marijuana market would unfold here.
His research focuses on engineering hemp to produce oil in its leaves and stalks, which could then be used for industrial products such as lubricants and plastics.
Hemp's success in Nebraska would depend on how much value can be squeezed from each plant, Clemente said.
Medical and recreational marijuana production will depend on demand. Farmers can take steps to keep ditch weed at bay and grow recreational cannabis outdoors, he said, and indoor grow operations can appeal to medical marijuana producers looking for a controlled environment.
Unless state and federal laws change, those theories will remain untested on a large scale.
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, has made "ignorant" statements about marijuana, Johnson said.
Yet Johnson sees no clarity in Trump's stance on cannabis.
"Who knows what he's gonna do?" Johnson said. "Trump's a businessman, and I wouldn't be surprised if he allowed states to continue to operate their legal, state-run programs."
As for legalization in Nebraska?
"I wait for that day," he said. "Until then, we'll be happily farming in Oregon."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Lincoln East Grad Eager To Bring Marijuana Business To Nebraska
Author: Zach Pluhacek
Contact: (402) 473-7306
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Lincoln Journal Star
