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“Wisconsin was once one of the largest hemp producers in the nation. I’d like to see that happen again, because it’s a great crop for our farmers,” said Sam Ward. Ward, his wife, Sadie, and friend/engineer Drew Faude, own Partnered Process, a Waterford, Wis.-based company that processes botanicals to make high-quality oil.
Sadie’s mother, Janet Gamble, is an organic farmer and co-owner of Turtle Creek Gardens. She began growing hemp during the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s (DATCP) 2018 pilot program to diversify their income opportunities. “I thought that sounded really cool and interesting, and then I thought about what happens next, so I started researching processing,” Sadie said. Intrigued, she talked it over with Sam. The couple consulted with Faude, and they began researching hemp processing, traveling to Colorado and Tennessee to see how other processing businesses operated. They obtained state processing licensure this past October.
For the 2019 season, Partnered Process will again work with Turtle Creek Gardens and some farmers new to growing hemp. “Most people are getting into this as a side project, and a couple of farmers are looking to diversify what they’re already doing. We’ve had a lot of interest,” Sadie said.
Sam has a background in in-house sales and marketing, and Sadie has worked in the natural food and wellness areas. Because Wisconsin’s hemp industry is still new, there aren’t many other companies in Wisconsin currently offering hemp processing, so the Wards and Faude wanted to get in on the ground floor. They plan to branch into online retail of finished products like tinctures and smokable items.
Faude explained their focus is looking for sustainable and organically grown hemp, ideally with higher cannabidiol (CBD) levels, “but we’re able to process any of it, and we’re trying to make it transparent to the customer where the hemp is coming from. People will be able to access that right off our bottle. Currently, we’re using ethanol extraction and some practices to remove ethanol out of the plant material through some things I designed.”
Extracting the Best, Ensuring Sustainability
Ethanol and CO2 are two commonly used CBD extraction methods. “We chose ethanol because a lot of the experienced people that have been doing this for years use it, and it seems to be the way to get the most out of the plant,” Sam added. “Once we extract it, the base product, crude, can be sold wholesale to brokers or to people making bath bombs or lotion.” Crude, a thick, syrupy substance, is mixed with organic hemp oil or a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) like organic coconut oil to thin it and act as a carrier for digestion. “We use everything we took out of the plant, so your body can use the CBD, the chlorophyll, the flavonoids and other things that are super-beneficial,” Sam said.
In addition to CBD, hemp’s uses include rope, clothing and paper. Because Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has stated he supports medical marijuana, Sam is optimistic that growers and processors can work on both spectrums of cannabis for medicinal and practical goods. Sam said it’s important to keep the playing field level so large agribusinesses don’t squeeze out smaller farmers. He sees opportunity for successful, long-term partnerships for farmers, processors and retailers.
“Partnered Process’ focus is to make sure these small farmers can be sustainable,” Faude adds. “We want to keep the smaller farms; they create some of the best foods, whereas these large corporate farms are destroying the land and [creating] these monocultures, and that’s not good.”
Sadie believes transparency is the key to building customer trust, and thus success, in an up-and-coming industry. “I think it’s important that we set that standard for Wisconsin. We can’t have a quality product without a quality crop, so creating these partnerships is important.”
For more information, visit www.partneredprocess.com.
