Marijuana Business Magazine July 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | July 2019 108 Standard storage methods have been developed for hemp grain, seed and fiber, based on years of growing and processing, mostly in Canada. Still, those methods are subject to change—particularly now that the plant is legal in the United States and more farmers will likely grow it. Until this year, storage of hemp flower and whole plant biomass has been relatively uncharted territory. “This industry is so new that I don’t think anybody really knows how long this stuff will store yet,” said Scott Propheter, vice president of agronomy and outreach at Criticality, a North Carolina-based, vertically integrated hemp and CBD company. Susceptible to humidity, temperature, ultraviolet light and weather, an improperly stored hemp crop can quickly go from good to bad under the untrained eye. When exposed to the elements, some of the more common issues farmers and processors face with hemp include mold problems or degradation in cannabinoid potency. With an influx of farmers and busi- nesses coming into the market—and new processors and manufacturers still learning how to work with hemp—the still-developing hemp-storage landscape is likely to become even more important. And considering the uncertainty still looming based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s future regulation of the use of CBD and other cannabi- noids in food, beverages, dietary supple- ments and cosmetics, hemp businesses may need to hold on to product longer than anticipated. STORAGE TECHNIQUES VARY Industry executives say there are two schools of thought when it comes to harvesting and storing hemp for CBD extraction: • While some companies will seek to maintain high-quality buds and a high-terpene profile by tending hemp similarly to marijuana and hand-harvesting only the hemp flower, this method can be labor intensive and costly. • Others opt for biomass harvesting for whole-plant extraction, allowing for quick harvesting by rolling up short-statured CBD hemp plants into round bales, similar to how hemp straw and fiber as well as more traditional crops such as alfal- fa hay and wheat straw are harvested and stored. John Cummings, president of Hemp- town, a vertically integrated business that grows hemp outdoors in Colorado, Kentucky and Oregon, said his company works in both methods, typically cutting hemp flower off the top of field-grown hemp plants first, then harvesting the S toring hemp properly is arguably as important as planting, harvesting or any other step in the cultivation process, because it can be just as crucial to farmers looking to turn a profit. Hanging drying hemp is a common way to cure it and makes separating flowers from the plant easier than cutting plants immediately after harvesting. Photo courtesy of Hemptown