NEESES – Ross and Andy Fogle exude excitement and excitement as visitors descend on Carolina Fresh Farms.
The men have a lot to share with the small tour group about the pioneering efforts being made at Savannah Highway Farm in growing, processing and extracting cannabidiol (CBD).
It is the only farm in the entire T&D region that is fully vertically integrated into the hemp processing industry and resembles a cross between a farm and a laboratory.
“It’s a niche market,” said Ross Fogle, vice president of agriculture for Nature’s Highway. But it is a niche market that is confident that it has a bright future. “He’ll get it. I know he is.”
“There are too many benefits of hemp for epilepsy, seizures, pain,” he said. “The list goes on and on. I’ve helped too many people with my product. I have no doubt we’ll do well. It’ll only take time.”
About four years ago, Ross and Andy started talking to a friend, John Jameson, who was a co-founder of North Carolina-based CannaTech.
“We found out about the permit (the legalization of the crop) and we met and started talking,” Ross said. “They said we’ll sell it if you grow it. It made sense.”
Carolina CannaTech announced in December 2020 that it would build a new privately funded cannabis oil extraction facility. The 2,400-square-foot cannabidiol facility is located on a 50-acre plot of the farm.
The facility uses extraction and evaporation methods and equipment to convert its farm-grown hemp into crude oil and finally into a distillate, or full-spectrum CBD, which is used in the products of Nature’s Highway. Nature’s Highway is the company’s own CBD product brand.
The April tour was made to show the planting season of the crop when the clones of hemp plants in the greenhouse are cut and planted in four acres of fields around the extraction facility.
The process of
The company buys the “mother” hemp plants for four to 5 months in North Carolina and then places them in the greenhouse to clone them. The plants are grown under controlled conditions.
The plants are of the Baox variety and will be used for all CBD oil products finished in the current year. The company is also testing new plant varieties this year called Goliath and Hurricane. These varieties will remain in the greenhouse.
“We have extra light to help them grow,” said Ross Fogle. “You need between 12 and 13 hours of light. In winter, we have about 10.”
The greenhouse also has fans and ventilation, as well as nebulization mechanisms.
Ross said the whole cloning process has been a learning experience for him.
“It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” he said. “It took me three years to try and do it right.”
“When you cut this plant, you have no roots,” he said. “You’re actually stressing it out. Stick it to the dirt and try to grow the roots. Once you start seeing the first root come out of the bottom, you’re fine. You’re trying to keep this plant neither too wet nor too dry.”
Nature’s Highway Managing Director Dan Sturdevant stressed that the whole process of growth and cloning is organic.
“There are no chemicals at any point in the process,” he said. “Our soil management techniques, even here for pest management, use other insects as a natural deterrent.”
In late April or early May, the company trims some stock of the mother plants and in a nine-day period transplants and cultivates them in a 4-acre field.
“We modified a head of the combination and instead of using pesticides or weed control, we went through the rows every week and threw dirt on the root bulbs, so it kills all the weeds naturally and creates a healthier plant, ”Sturdevant said.
The plants grow and are regularly tested for CBD and THC content until the end of September. They are harvested at a time when they are within state and federal guidelines.
The THC concentration of hemp cannot exceed 0.3% on a dry weight basis. Anything above that is considered marijuana and is illegal in the state.
Although CBD is a component of hemp, it does not cause a “high” on its own. CBD has been promoted for a wide variety of health problems.
The hemp biomass is then dried and filtered.
Carolina CannaTech worked with the New River Distilling Company in Boone, North Carolina, to design and build the facility’s equipment and systems.
Carolina CannaTech sells its product as CBD crude oil (for other extraction / production companies) or mainly as a distillate for end products such as tinctures, jelly beans and topical lotions and ointments.
The customer base of the company is mainly the Carolinas.
