Hello jimmytian8, I’m looking for large amounts of distillate and biomass! 
Definitely missing out on the labor piece (starting seeds, planting, harvesting), drying and storage (either frozen or dried), also don’t forget insurance on growing (and processing if you are drying) which is $$$. If going after organic cert there are costs to that, both for initial licensing and fees based on gross sales. Certifying previously fallow land is easier than transitioning, but it is a process and requires you to outline you farm plans and expected costs/inputs.
For 9 acres you are going to need A LOT of drying space and equipment to maintain proper humidity and airflow if you are doing an indoor dry. I used a old hay barn in the past which was not ideal, but had enough airflow to remove any issues with stagnation and subsequent mold growth.
I don’t see any expenditures for inputs either. Irrigation system for 9 acres/15,000ish plants isn’t going to come cheap. Going to need water access and pump system. Depends on the soil you are starting with, but you will likely need at least some supplemental nutrients to get the most out of the crop. That’s if you also don’t need amendments on the front end to get the soil to the right Ph and ensure you have a good balance of base nutrients.
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P.M. me I can connect you with someone that can help with everything
George
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Hey Caligril, which state are you in ? CA?
I have help to set up a distillation processing plant in Oakland, CA. They are pumping a lot of CBD distillate right now. They might have some for sale. Let me know if you are interested.
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Hi, I’m in Oregon. Definitely interested!
Hi Jimmytian8, we need distillate! Lots and lots
My mother is a USDA organic compliance officer and can assist in helping you through the process of certification and even come on site and get you your seal- she’s also extremely well versed in cannabis law and growing so DM me and I’ll get you connected.
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Hi. I’m in need of crude disolate or isolate suppliers. I also need 6000 units of cat 4 trim at about 13% ideally…are you a supplier? Or do you know anyone you can put me in touch with? I’d greatly appreciate the assistance.
Cheers Jimmy
Tiffany
Hey guys,
thanks for all your input. I wanted to update on our change of direction and see if anyone has anymore advise or things to note.
We’ve decided to go the smokable hemp route. Our farmer is more experienced in this world than doing larger acreage to produce bulk biomass anyways. Instead of the 9 acres we are going to do 4 acres, that way he can maintain easier.
I know that going this route the hemp will need much more care. Im curious to any unexpected maintenance costs that would be added to this strategy. Im also curious to how much drying, shucking, or trimming will cost as well.
Thank you guys for the insight already! Any advice or knowledge is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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Growing for the smokable flower market is the way to go if you are not vertically integrated or on huge acreage.
You can make at least 3-5X (in some cases much more) what you’d make if you had grown for biomass, and you will have more options to move your product once it’s ready. You can market smokable flower direct to customers yourself if you wish, which you cannot really do with biomass. When you grow for biomass you are essentially passing on the value of your crop to the processor.
You’re growing for smokable flower in 2019, then having variety is going to get you far. You want to have strains selected which are proven cultivars that have an attractive profile in terms of terps, appearance, bud structure/shape, and cannabinoid content. You’ll also be careful to keep within THC compliance levels for your state or your purchaser (some places go on delta9 only and some states go by total THC). This is important as you will not be doing further processing on your flower to remove or lower/dilute the THC.
Perhaps the most important factor will be your harvest and dry/cure tech. You need to handle the plants gently throughout this process. You will need to have your dry facility lined up and READY TO USE when you begin harvesting, preferably well before then. You are drying slow and curing for at least a few weeks to produce an optimal finished product. You also are wise to consider the cost of bucking and trimming, which can be expensive depending on what resources you have available. Bucking can be done by hand reasonably quickly once your crew has the hang of it. I definitely recommend investing in a high quality trim machine unless you are going for the ultra high end hand trimmed market.
Hand trimming is better suited for deps and indoor though, as it is expensive. Also, most buyers in my experience are happy with a lightly trimmed flower as opposed to a tight trim.
All the best to you and here’s to your success on your grow!
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Wow, thank you @RedDog! That was above and beyond info that will be beneficial to me.
I’ll take all of this in to deep consideration and thank you again for the insight. I hope this is the beginning of a very bright future!
I’ll report back with updates as well.
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There is a market for smokable hemp?
I knew there was a market for hemp flower, but I didn’t think it was for smoking.
I can hardly sell my ACDC.
Edit: wow. This is a way around all the crazy testing on the marijuana side. You can also sell to kids.
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Me too! Harvest straight off the farm into freezer truck and transport to location to cryo?
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I would add too that your Nutrient and IPM is going to cost much more if you want to produce quality flowers. I would recommend looking into No-Till, KNF or other biodynamic methods of farming (pending your soil analysis) especially if you own the field and plan on using it long term and want to go the organic route.
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Is this for all states?
We have plenty,
Cloudwave Orangics, and located in Oregon as well.
Email me for more info or message me.
cougarmagnum45@gmail.com
How did the 4 acres turn out last year? I am currently looking at a project involving 4 acres and would love to chat numbers with you, did u figure out the drying?
Where are you located? I have some land in TN I’d be happy to lease out to some hemp farmers.
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North california, the project will be in middletown
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I used the formula of 2% of acreage for drying. It seemed to work out. We harvested for 2 weeks so a week in the first stuff was getting dry already.
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