“We get several calls a day from farmers all over the state who are thinking about growing hemp,” says Andy Gould, co-owner of Wisconsin Hemp Scientific, which offers cannabinoid testing, hemp processing and their own line of cannabidiol (CBD) products. “There’s a lot of excitement and hope about this crop.” Gould, along with Dennis Mistrioty and Griffin Lynch, launched Wisconsin Hemp Scientific last year.
The trio has been friends since middle school and launched their first business, Greek Street food cart, while still in college at UW-Madison. As their graduation approached, they knew they wanted to start another business on a larger scale. After Wisconsin’s industrial hemp pilot program was signed into law in November 2017, Mistrioty’s uncle, who was involved in Colorado’s hemp pilot program, advised the young entrepreneurs that hemp would be a good opportunity.
“We didn’t know much about it, so we started researching the difference between hemp and marijuana, and cannabinoids,” Gould says. “We wanted to become involved, and there were two avenues—one was farming, harvesting and cultivating the plant itself; or processing, which is taking the crop from the farmer and processing it into something useful like CBD oil.” Gould and Lynch majored in chemical engineering, so the processing aspect was a good fit. In addition, they offer high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) testing. “We can run a sample through the machine, and it will tell you how much CBD or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is in that sample,” Gould explains.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) tests hemp crops at end of the harvest, and crops containing more than 0.3% THC must be destroyed. “We figured that farmers would want to know their THC levels as they grow, so we offer this as a service, so farmers can send samples every week or two weeks to check their levels.” Wisconsin Hemp scientific also tests cannabinoid levels for people processing CBD into oils or gummies.
Wisconsin Hemp Scientific is a DATCP-licensed hemp processor. They use food-grade ethanol extraction, a common method throughout the industry. After testing the hemp for appropriate levels, they take the hemp flower and perform extraction via solvent to pull out the desired molecules. The ethanol pulls out the CBD, trace amounts of THC and other cannabinoids. After the extraction, then next step is solvent recovery, which removes the ethanol from the CBD. The end result is a crude oil that is roughly the color and consistency of maple syrup. The CBD distillation process cleans up the oil and purifies it, isolating specific compounds such as CBD.
Gould, Lynch and Mistrioty eventually added their own line of CBD tinctures in 500, 1,000 and 2,000-milligram strengths, as well as a topical pain-relief roll-on. They will also release CBD lotion and a body balm. The products are available online or at local stores such as Canni Hemp in Walker’s Point. With the hemp industry being so new, Gould reflects that none of what they learned was easily researchable. “We built a lot of what we do from scratch and deduced it from scratch.” He and Lynch also flew out to Colorado to connect with people in the hemp industry through conferences, and they toured processing facilities in Washington state. Gould emphasizes that educating people about the difference between hemp and marijuana—and dispelling stigmas and stereotypes—is crucial to move the hemp industry forward.
“The cannabis industry should be considered a legitimate business; it’s not just a bunch of hippies or potheads,” he says. “This is a legit business that’s well regulated and safe. Getting to that point might be a challenge, but we will all benefit.”
For more information, visit www.wisconsinhempscientific.com.
