Doug Fine’s American Hemp Farmer raises awareness for creating a healthy planet
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Doug Fine’s American Hemp Farmer
Raises Awareness for Creating a Healthy Planet
Award Winning Documentary Film on PBS
With Broadcasts on PBS Stations Across the U.S.
Bringing Audience Reach to Nearly 75 Million
Successful Outreach with Earth Day Screenings
In New Mexico and Colorado
American Hemp Farmer Watch Party Challenge
Rallies Regenerative-Living Community
To Have Fun and Learn About Sustainability Around the World
In this clip from American Hemp Farmer, join Doug Fine in a hemp field that is actively mitigating extreme climate events. Hemp plants sequester enough carbon to clear the smoke and reduce the ambient temperature. Here the field is literally in the midst of a wildfire but the temperature is nearly 20 degrees cooler amongst the hemp. The film asks, “how many acres of hemp and other regenerative crops would it take to have a worldwide impact?” Spoiler alert: hundreds of millions.
(LOS ANGELES) Hemp farmer/goat rancher/filmmaker Doug Fine knows a way to keep the Earth livable for humanity—and he is sharing the knowledge with the world. “We all wonder what we can do as busy Digital Age individuals to help combat extreme climate events,” says Fine. “One key answer: plant a hemp garden!”
In Fine’s award-winning documentary film, American Hemp Farmer, with fun, wit, and an optimistic energy he shows how regenerative farming of hemp and using hemp products in the regenerative lifestyle can help keep our Earth a healthy place that supports our survival.
In addition to broadcasts on PBS stations from coast to coast and throughout the heartland, American Hemp Farmer was presented as screenings in Colorado and New Mexico, in April. Leading up to Earth Day, the film was screened at Her Many Stories Earth Day Film Festival in Denver, CO. The Film Festival focuses on Indigenous voices from around the world. They share stories of resilience, stewardship, and solutions rooted in generations of care with films becomes a bridge; connecting ancient knowledge with modern action.
And on Earth Day (April 22), Fine attended a screening presented by Film Las Cruces at the New Mexico State University. As director of the film, Fine – dressed head to toe and then some, in hemp made apparel – appeared for a post-screening, in-person Q&A with his film editor Julian Gallegos. Many enthusiastic students and audience members asked questions that were insightful and engaging; creating an inspiring conversation about regenerative living that showed a commitment to making positive change to benefit our Earth.
Doug Fine (center) at the Earth Day screening
Since the film’s debut on PBS in March, broadcasts have aired throughout the U.S. with audience growth reaching nearly 75 million to date. Along with streaming and on-demand availability, American Hemp Farmer has been added to programming at local public media stations including KVCR in Los Angeles, KPJK in San Francisco, KBDI in Denver, Connecticut Public Television, Montana Public Television, KSMQ in Minnesota, KRWG and KENW in New Mexico, KVIE in Sacramento, WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, KTNW in Richmond, WA, WDCP in Flint, MI, WBRA in Roanoke, VA, Vermont Public Television, and stations in Wisconsin: WPNE (Green Bay), WHAD (Madison) and WHLA (La Crosse).
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American Hemp Farmer available to stream for free on PBS.org |
As American Hemp Farmer reaches a wider and wider audience, Fine and his film’s production team have announced a “Watch Party Challenge,” a fun way to show support for the film and regenerative living. Fine explains, “we want you to have a good time while watching our film. Watch it friends, or at 2 a.m. with your cats and dogs (and goats). Take a photo or brief video of the party and send it to us. The Watch Party post that makes us laugh hardest will win a prize.”
For more information on how to submit your photos and videos, go to instagram.com/AmericanHempFarmerFilm.
About American Hemp Farmer
Doug Fine’s new documentary American Hemp Farmer—recently harvested for distribution by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) to public media stations including PBS—you’ll hear Fine use two terms. One is “regenerative living,” which describes a mode of living, working, eating, and traveling that puts a least as much back into Earth’s resources as it extracts. The other, “food security,” means thriving, even in times of uncertainty, regardless of whether society experiences supply chain disruptions.
In his film, Fine shows how regenerative farming of hemp and using hemp products in the regenerative lifestyle can help the Earth. In one segment, he prints a petroleum free plastic goat made from hemp, showing how versatile the plant is. In another, he stands in the midst of a massive wildfire area, and demonstrates that hemp helps clean soil and air, creating a cooler environment.
“This is one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen,” said the film’s co-Executive Producer Andrew DeAngelo. “Because even though it’s isuper timely with its regenerative living and wildfire mitigation themes, it’s an incredibly fun watch. A must-see positive film for our times. No one who sees it will forget it.”
After years of filming in remote hemp fields and then riding the festival circuit, American Hemp Farmer has earned accolades and awards. These include Best New Mexico Documentary at the Santa Fe Film Festival (the doc’s world premiere) and Audience Choice at last October’s Silver City Film Festival. Also, the film was an official selection at the 2025 Las Cruces International Film Festival.
The doc is currently distributed by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) and syndicated to all 350 U.S. public media outlets, including PBS networks. American Hemp Farmer is available to stream on the PBS app and at PBS.org (pbs.org/show/american-hemp-farmer), plus on-demand at DougFine.com.
“None of us would be here today,” Fine says, “if not for the regenerative lifestyle, which helps sustain the Earth.” He hopes that we can reactivate that “instinctive regenerative awareness” and work together to ensure a habitable planet for future generations. “Humanity is in the 9th inning of the climate crisis with two outs. I want to show everyone how to take significant steps toward solving the problem while having fun along the way. And regenerative living is the most fun you can have outside the bedroom.”
Doug Fine in his hemp fields on his Funky Butte Ranch in New Mexico.
About Doug Fine
A Southwest-based author whose books Willie Nelson describes as, “a blueprint for the America of the future,” Doug Fine is the author of six books including American Hemp Farmer (2020, Chelsea Green Publishing) and the Boston Globe Bestseller, Farewell, My Subaru (Penguin/Random House 2009). His wild goat-wrangling stories and optimistic persona have led to media appearances (Conan, The Tonight Show, BBC, CNN) as well as a TED Talk (TEDxABQ) and testimony before the United Nations on the right-to-farm.
In his speaking events, including appearances at SXSW, Town Hall Seattle, National Geographic Heroes of the Planet Series, and dozens of universities, Fine further spreads the word about the joys and pitfalls of sustainable living.
He has cultivated superfoods (including hemp since its 2018 legalization) for more than a decade and taught his methods of cultivation and seed building at Vermont’s Sterling College and online at DougFine.com. His hemp seeds have been used to clean contaminated soil in a New Mexico University study. Fine’s life and work has been covered in Smithsonian, and he has reported from five continents for NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times Magazine and other platforms. The Washington Post says, “Fine is a storyteller in the mold of Douglas Adams.”
Fine, who is convinced that “being outside in a farm or garden is the most fun you can have outside the bedroom,” homeschools his children alongside his wife. With his labor-of-love American Hemp Farmer continuing to reach larger audiences, Fine is already jamming on developing his next projects, including his hosting a regenerative living travel show.
As American Hemp Farmer prepares for its public television premiere, Doug Fine is available for interviews and further speaking engagements in 2026. A website of Fine’s print and radio journalism, United Nations testimony, television appearances and TED Talk is at dougfine.com. Follow him on Instagram at @organiccowboy.
About NETA
The National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) is a professional association representing more than 300 member stations in nearly every state, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit netaonline.org.
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