Co-Founder and Chief PollinatorFirst Crop
A graduate of the Colorado Agriculture and Rural Leadership program, Michael Bowman has spent his adult life active in rural advocacy. He has served as founding board member of numerous environmental and hemp advocacy organizations, including the Rocky Mountain Hemp Association, Colorado Industrial Hemp Commission, the American Renewable Energy Institute, and the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance. He is a co-founder of the Colorado Farm2Cafeteria workgroup, advisor to the Savory Institute, and a board member of the North American Industrial Hemp Association.
Mike is the author of Section 7606 of the 2014 Farm Bill, a provision that grants U.S. farmers the right to cultivate hemp in states where hemp production is now legal for the first time since Congress passed the 1933 Farm Bill.
Mike was instrumental in shaping the State of Colorado’s hemp policy as Chair of Colorado’s New Energy Future and served as Co-Chair of Governor-elect Bill Ritter’s Energy Transition Team. He was a member of the White House Champions of Change program in 2011 and was selected as one of twelve members of the 500-member program to meet with President Obama in April 2012 to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the program.
Mike was the Founding Board Chair of the National Hemp Association from 2014 through mid-2017. Since June 2019, Mike has been the Co-founder and Chief Pollinator of First Crop, a public benefit company that partners with American farmers to “harness the regenerative power of hemp.”
Website:First Crop