Thanks to liberalisation of cannabis control laws in the US, a giant new industry centred around hemp-based products is emerging. And at the centre of it sits CBD – a cannabinoid with a host of touted benefits.
CBD is one of the most exciting developments in the alternative medicine segment in many years. The compound offers alleged benefits that range from controlling anxiety to reducing the frequency of epileptic fits. It may also offer a novel way of shutting off the body’s pain centres, helping people with chronic conditions like Lyme’s disease and fibromyalgia.
The industry, however, will only succeed if it integrates modern technology. And this is where things get interesting. CBD farming is fostering the development of an entirely new set of technologies that could spill out into other horticultural products. People are excited to see where things go.
Extraction Tech
Take extraction tech, for instance. Processors – firms in the supply chain that sit between growers and vendors – know that if they want to boost their margins, they have to improve the efficiency of the CBD extraction process.
Currently, there are a variety of techniques available, many of which are derivatives of traditional food processing methods. Weirdly, though, low-tech methods aren’t always the most effective. You can press CBD compounds out of the hemp plant, just like you can squeeze oil out of olives. But you wind up with a lot of waste and impurities – and that’s not what industry or consumers want.
The latest machinery is usually bespoke. Firms also have to hire specialists to operate it effectively and avoid breakdowns. But the new technology appears to be better at extracting CBD from buds, leaves and flowers. And that’s important if you are a CBD supplier.
Hemp Monitoring
The hemp-growing industry lends itself quite well to the application of modern technology. Most growers house their plants in giant greenhouses which help keep out pests and prevent the need to use chemical sprays.
Monitoring systems, however, are now finally making their way into these environments, providing real-time feedback on plant status. Equipment can sense light, humidity, water and soil moisture levels and then send this information to a central computer. The software then instructs automated machinery or human operatives to correct environmental conditions.
Thus, this innovation is helping to turn hemp agriculture into an exact science.
Artificial Intelligence
Linked to this is the use of artificial intelligence. Instead of crunching the numbers themselves, farmers are simply recording their yields in software and then relying on the clever algorithms to cook up an optimal growing formula, based on inputs.
We could, for instance, see a situation develop in the CBD industry where sensors and robots complete a feedback loop using AI technology. Software would process incoming data and then use that to predict the optimal combination of inputs to keep plants healthy.
CBD is yet to reach its full potential, but the industry is growing fast. If it wants to get there, it is going to have to start using advanced technologies.
Quality and Safety
As the CBD healthcare industry evolves, one of the most important factors is ensuring the quality and safety of products throughout the supply chain. Like any highly regulated industry the need for suppliers, manufacturers and retailers to ensure that all products are compliant with relevant legislation and safe for patients and end users is paramount.
Technology can help provide tools to track CBD raw materials throughout the supply chain and production process. Using solutions that employ technologies like blockchain and machine learning can ensure that CBD and hemp products are traceable from seed-to-sale, resulting in products that consumers and patients can trust!