The demand for hemp products has prompted farmers to add hemp to their rotation of crops. Unfortunately, hemp genetics have not had time to stabilize so farmers must cope with problems they don't normally encounter with more established crops like corn and soy beans. Vibrant Hemp Cultures CEO Tony Locken joins Dan Humiston to talk about how they help farmers eliminate costly variables of growing hemp from seed by providing them with partially grown plant "starters". Produced by PodCONX https://podconx.com/guests/tony-locken
The demand for hemp products has prompted farmers to add hemp to their rotation of crops. Unfortunately, hemp genetics have not had time to stabilize so farmers must cope with problems they don't normally encounter with more established crops like corn and soy beans. Vibrant Hemp Cultures CEO Tony Locken joins Dan Humiston to talk about how they help farmers eliminate costly variables of growing hemp from seed by providing them with partially grown plant "starters".
https://podconx.com/guests/tony-locken
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Tony Locken: [00:01:30] With what we're offering, we can grab a huge portion of the farmers that need to grow CBD for him. We're looking to talk with investors. We believe that in the future that anything that's commercially, agriculturally farmed already comes from tissue culture.
Tony Locken: [00:01:46] We believe that type 3 CBD Hemp is gonna be the same way and eventually clones from tissue culture is going to be in the future.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:57] From MJ MJBulls Media, it's the Raising Cannabis Capital show.
Dan Humiston: [00:02:05] I'm Dan Humiston. And on today's show, how this company is helping Hemp farmers overcome the inconsistency and unreliability of the seeds they're using to grow Hemp.
Dan Humiston: [00:02:24] Today in Raising Cannabis Capital, we are joined by Tony lock-in, the CEO and founder of Vibrant Hemp Cultures. Tony, welcome to the show.
Tony Locken: [00:02:33] Thank you. Thanks for having me again.
Dan Humiston: [00:02:34] Well, the demand for CBD is just so great. We hear farmers are just racing to add CBD so that they can take advantage of this demand. But there's a bunch of additional layers of complexity with Hemp that farmers are a lot of times aren't aware of. We can start off by you telling us what some of these challenges that farmers face with Hemp.
Tony Locken: [00:02:58] Sure, sure. So typically right now, about 95 percent of the people growing in the United States and across the world are growing from seed. Typically a farmer that grows from seed. What they do is they have to find a reputable seed dealer. And once they do that, they have to receive the seeds, germinate the seeds. Once they germinate the seeds, then it's all if they get a good germination rate, then they have to call out any plants that have not grown properly. And then once they grow in a hothouse or a greenhouse for typically somewhere around five or six weeks, they can be ready to transfer those out into the field. Even seed companies that are guaranteeing their seeds are female, up to ninety nine point seven percent. You still have to be worried about calling out males once you plant, especially the larger your crop, the larger your field is, the more you have to worry about potentially having that problem.
Tony Locken: [00:03:53] Another thing is, Fino, typical differences between the seeds. One example that I always get is if you have 10 children, one could be a doctor and another could be a crack at men. You see it. But you know, you get the point when you when you're going from seed, you have no idea what you're going to get to the fino. Typical differences between seed or huge for the Cannabis plant, whereas something like soybeans or corn or tobacco, the fino typical differences are like point 0 0 0 1 percent. So you can feel confident that you're going to get the same plant going from seed Cannabis. It's a totally different story.
Dan Humiston: [00:04:28] Yeah. I think that's really helpful for us to get things started is to understand how complex this isn't. A lot of it is just because the industry's new and we haven't really solved a lot of these problems. So the farmer grows from a seed in some cases up to I mean, is going to come a little plant and then they take that out in their field and then they may they put that plan into the ground or they work with a company like vibrant Hemp cultures. And you've already got these little plants and they buy the little plants right from you. I know it sounds very sophomoric, but is that sort of the gist of it?
Tony Locken: [00:05:03] Yeah, that's pretty much what we offer. So we've teamed up with Eastport Cultivars. They're out of southern Oregon. They've been breeding in phenotype selecting specifically Type 3 CBD for the last five years. So they're a little bit ahead of the curve. We've contracted seven other different cultivars that we have in culture and our tissue culture labs that have been field tested for the last three years. So we're confident in their abilities and we're confident in their THC and CBD levels in their chirping profiles.
Dan Humiston: [00:05:33] Just to jump in, it sounds to me like you're solving two problems. One is you're eliminating a lot of those challenges that the farmer would otherwise have to deal with on his own, because you've already eliminated a lot of those variables. You're not going to get a real tall plant growing next to a real bushy plant. They're going to know how much THC each of the plants going to produce. And the reason at all this happens is that it reduces their costs, but then it also, B, increases their potential return on the crop. Is that the goal?
Tony Locken: [00:06:03] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, yeah. What we talked about was strictly just the genetics that Eastport was able to find that we have in our arsenal will be where the only people that offer those worldwide. So we have something special that no one else has. Genetics wise, but also just to mention the benefits of tissue culture. You don't have to germinate. You don't have to put anything in a hothouse. We pull up in a truck and give you a six inch plant that's hard and often field ready. So you take our plant off our truck and you put it directly in the field. You don't have to waste any time or resources germinating or calling out any plants that aren't necessarily as healthy. Every plant has been sorted three to four times. So they're identical.
Tony Locken: [00:06:44] They're a beautiful plant as complete lateral rooting increase juvenile branching. Everything about a tissue culture plant is superior to a seed. Well, they're guaranteed to be disease free, contaminant free, pathogen free as well. So my gosh, yeah, it is a clone, but it's different than a traditional clone. It's vastly superior.
Dan Humiston: [00:07:05] As you were going through some of the advantages, you did touch on making sure that all the plants are the same. And we've talked about THC. For the listeners that aren't aware of this, why is it so important that they manage the.
Dan Humiston: [00:07:20] Thc levels in their crop.
Tony Locken: [00:07:23] Across the whole US. A bunch of states are going from different rules right now, so you need to follow the Farmville rules. There are states that need to follow a pilot program rules from the previous years. And then there are states that are going by the USDA draft rules, which are the most stringent right now, which require the total THC of your plant to be point 3 percent or lower. Fifteen days before pre harvest based on which state where you are and what you're going through. Farm Bill pilot program or a USDA draft? Rules wise, you need to know what your rules are so that you can be compliant that you'll be able to not only sell in your own state, but you can shift other states as well. That's something that's very important. The cultivars that we have for these were cultivars that we have in culture.
Tony Locken: [00:08:09] Are all farm bill and pilot program compliant and then USDA draft rules compliant provided that you harvest them in the correct amount of time.
Dan Humiston: [00:08:18] Well, I mean, that just gives you the peace of mind, especially with putting a new crop into the ground. I think people are going to really look for that and that same line. The percentage of CBD in the plant is really a big driver. So therefore, the more CBD that the plant produces, the more valuable it is and therefore, the more that the farmer can sell them for. And I read on your Web site that that's one of the important things of the plants that you provide.
Tony Locken: [00:08:43] So we have picked high CBD cultivars on purpose through his work and we've accepted some other ones as well. That may be a little bit lower test, really high in their turbines, just like in the Cannabis plant. The turbines are what unlock receptors in your brain to receive the cannabinoids from the plant. If you don't have any turkeys, do you're not necessarily getting the entire benefit from the plant.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:10] I want to take a quick break to thank you for listening to today's show as the exclusive Cannabis podcast network. We're constantly adding new Cannabis podcast to support our industry's growth. And that's why we're so excited to welcome the Seed to Sound podcast to our network. The team at Seed to Sound has produced over 50 exciting and thought provoking Cannabis podcasts. And now you can listen to all their previous episodes and all their new episodes at MJ Bulls dot com. So welcome seed to sound. And stay tuned for new exciting Cannabis podcast on the MJ BLS Cannabis Podcast Network in order to get your plants out to as many farmers as you can.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:54] I suspect that's a pretty big capital outlay. I think I saw on your your Web site that the order size starts at 20000 plants. It seems like that's a pretty big capital outlay. Are you. Are you in the process of raising money or do you plan to raise any money?
Tony Locken: [00:10:08] My business partner, Tom Samuels is the co-founder, BioBricks Cultures with me. He has come in to have us being well-funded for right now. But we are looking for the future to greatly expand because we think that with what we're offering, we can grab a huge portion of the farmers that need to grow CBD from Hemp. I guess we're looking to talk with investors and we have a bunch of ideas on where we would like to take this. We believe that in the future that anything that's commercially, agriculturally farmed already comes from tissue culture. We believe that type 3 CBD Hemp is going to be the same way and eventually clones from tissue culture is going to be in the future. Vibrant cultures are going to be taking a good portion of business for the farmers that are doing type re CBD Hemp in the United States and we also are capable of shipping worldwide to see you can ship to every place in the United States and then you can ship all over the world.
Dan Humiston: [00:11:04] I mean, I think. I think this is an opportunity right now that is not going to always be there, so you need to take advantage of it as quickly as you can. I'll have all of Tony Lachanze from Vibrant Hemp Cultures contact information on the MJBulls Web site. So if anybody wants to get in touch with Tony to talk to him further about his company, reach out to him directly. Tony, it's been great talking to you. Thanks for the education. I learned a lot on this show. Thanks.
Tony Locken: [00:11:30] Yes. Thanks so much for having me on MJBulls. And great to meet you, Dan..
Dan Humiston: [00:11:33] Great to meet you, too. Good luck with this.
Tony Locken: [00:11:35] OK. Thank you so much.
Dan Humiston: [00:11:39] Today's show is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, like all 36, the country's premiere blockchain payment processing platform that's providing dispensaries and its customers with a safe and secure payment option other than cash. To learn more, go to all 236.com. Today's podcast was produced by MJ Bulls Media, the industry's premier Cannabis podcast network with original music, produced in part by Jamie Humiston. I'm Dan Humiston and you've been listening to the Raising Cannabis Capital podcast.
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