The First Crop™ Seed to Shelf CBD Production Process
Here at First Crop™, we carefully cultivate our CBD and hemp crop year-round. We work closely with our farmers to ensure sustainable practices to nurture their land and nourish our crops. At First Crop™, we create regenerative partnerships with farmers and empower them every step of the way.
Our farmers receive the highest quality hemp seeds with superior genetics from us. We share our expertise with them and assist them with site selection, soil, and water testing, planting, sustainable growing practices, harvesting, and drying their hemp crop. Our farmers grow the best hemp because they use regenerative farming practices and only produce USDA Certified Organic hemp.
Farmers are at the heart of our business. We share our profits with them and work together to create the highest quality CBD oil on the market and promote regenerative principles to leave something of value for the next generation.
Working closely with our farmers is a commitment that lasts all year long. We take them through all four seasons, with a careful eye on quality. Read on to discover how we collaborate.
Winter: Planting Preparation
We use wintertime to assess our previous year’s production and consider ways to improve our cultivation practices to achieve our quality and production goals. If we have new farmers interested in collaborating with us, we will evaluate their field and test their soil for pesticides, solvents, and heavy metals.
We work with farmers in multiple states, and we use this time to discuss with them the results of their previous year’s harvest and opportunities for improvement. And before you know it, it is time for the farmers to start prepping the fields for the upcoming season.
Spring: Planting
When spring comes, it’s time to provide our farmers with hemp seeds to plant their “starts” – the seedlings planted later in the Spring. Different farms use different techniques for planting.
Most of our farmers start their plants inside and eventually move them outdoors to “harden” or acclimatize just prior to planting. Once ready to be planted, the baby plants are pulled from their trays and placed in a water wheel planter that punches a hole in the ground, places the plant in the hole, gives it a drink of water, and covers up the roots.
Summer: Flowering
As summer progresses, the hemp plants are inspected and tended to on a daily basis. We monitor the fields and weed out any male plants to eliminate cross-pollination and ensure quality.
We water our plants and give them plenty of sun exposure to help them grow strong. And along the way, we add nutrients to support overall plant health and to stimulate growth.
Fall: Harvest
Fall is by far the most exciting of all the seasons! This is the season in which our farmers get to harvest their plants and receive the benefits of all their hard work. Plants in the western US begin to flower in August but early Fall is when the plants come to full maturation and are ready to be harvested.
We closely watch our plants to see when they are ready to be harvested. There is no exact science to timing, it varies every year, so we have to stay on our toes. Various environmental factors, such as the hours of sunlight, climate, and temperature, can impact the harvest schedule.
Once ready to be harvested, our hemp plants are cut typically by hand. Each of our farms has its own unique processes and methods for harvesting, but they all have one thing in common: hard work. The plants then have to be hung and dried, and the flowers are shucked from the stalks so the flowers can be ready for the oil to be extracted.
Winter: Extraction
Next, the hemp flowers are prepared for the extraction process. The CBD oil must be extracted from the hemp flower. There are multiple ways to extract CBD oil from hemp plants… At First Crop’s™ USDA Certified Organic processing facility, we use CO2 extraction to extract the oil from our hemp due to its following benefits:
- Does not use solvents
- The closed-loop process does not release gases into the air
- Non-flammable
- Toxin-free
- Considered GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the FDA
- Little or no post-processing required
- Non-corrosive
CO2 extraction uses highly pressurized carbon dioxide to extract the oil from the plant. In addition to the hemp oil, this compressed CO2 gently extracts important, valuable parts of the hemp plant such as terpenes, some waxes and lipids, and, of course, a wide variety of cannabinoids.
Unlike chemical-extraction techniques that use highly flammable chemical solvents and strip hemp of many of its natural beneficial compounds, CO2 extraction preserves the valuable cannabinoids and terpenes and leaves behind no chemical residue, chlorophyll, or non-functional materials.
After the extraction process is complete, we are left with the highest quality USDA Certified Organic hemp oil on the market.
Home Stretch: From Seed to Shelf
Our pure CBD oil is always 3rd party tested for potency and contaminants. Lastly, it is diluted with organic MCT oil, blended into our proprietary formulations, and packaged for sale. Once packaged, it makes it’s way to you!
Our production process guarantees we produce the best USDA Certified Organic products on the market using regenerative practices and environmentally friendly methods from our seeds to your shelf.
We are proud of our products and our work in partnership with First Crop farmers for Mother Earth. Our CBD tinctures and CBD capsules are not only good for your health and well being but the hemp that is grown to produce the CBD oil it is also helping heal the earth. To read more about the benefits of hemp and its production, see our page, “Why Hemp.”
Thank you for your interest in our product and our mission! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out. And if you want to continue your full-spectrum CBD and hemp education, head over to our other blogs.
