STARK COUNTY, ND (KFYR) – Yesterday Bella Kraft told you about the Weber family who handpicked cannabis on their farm east of Dickinson. The process of harvesting hemp is different from what farmers go through for wheat, barley, soybeans, corn, or sunflowers.
Once the hemp has dried, it’s time to treat the plants. Plants lose about half their weight during the drying process.
Once I have all the plants in the barn, it takes a month to a month and a half to finish a thousand plants,” said Shane Weber, one of the owners of Badlands Hemp.
There are two processes for taking the leaves from the branches. The most time consuming method is to cut individual branches and feed them through a machine where the branches are separated from the leaves and buds.
“From this point on, we store them in pouches in a temperature-controlled environment,” Weber said.
Another faster method is to fill the bags and strip the branches manually. This seems to suit Shane better, as cultivation and harvesting is done by his hands as well.
“When you look at locally made and locally made items, the quality is often much better because Badlands Hemps hand picks and grows their produce,” said Shirley Reese, general manager of Bisman Community Food Co-op.
Then the leaves and buds are placed in a cylinder. Cannabis shoots roll along a load, while the leaves are swept away like the autumn wind. These small operations help ensure product quality.
“When you get something like this happening on a smaller scale, the quality is absolutely amazing. You get a much longer life out of the product,” said Reese.
Some special buds make cuttings that are cut by hand and sold as individual flowers. Others are separated to make CBD oil.
We can then make products with this oil from there. Weber said that most of the products you see from Badlands Hemp contain oil and CBD that is grown from plants here in North Dakota.
Finally, the products hit local store shelves, just like here at Bisman Community Food Co-op.
“When we got the Badlands Hemp, we actually stopped selling the majority of other CBD products and decided to just focus on the local CBD,” said Reese.
The oil is made in small batches from one and a half to two pounds of sprouts.
Badlands Hemp is certified organic, and the first hemp producer in western North Dakota.
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