From Seed to Sale: A Genealogy of Hemp and CBD

This article follows our blog, “You’ll be Surprised by the History of Cannabis and Hemp,” that chronicles hemp’s incredible journey through the annals of time. It’s a fascinating account of the disappearance of a vital crop (that once provided all of the paper and most of the cloth in the world). and complements this article that explains more about how this remarkable plant is grown and manufactured to become a wonderful pain-reliever, anxiety-reducer, and health product.

Plant with incredible utility

Included in some of the bonuses of growing hemp is that it’s a great rotational crop. Its roots are nutrient-rich, good for farming, and provide soil aeration, and it resists disease and insect invasions. None of the hemp plant needs go to waste. Seeds can be used for another year’s crop; sold as a health additive, like chia and flax seeds; or have their oil extracted and used for food oil, as an anti-inflammatory, or a source of omega-9. Hemp is also versatile and strong enough to make oil, textiles, rope, and all sorts of consumer goods

Got hemp?

The 2014 Farm Bill that lifted the U.S. ban on hemp created a surge in the number of hemp farmers, which has started an explosion in the CBD industry. In just one year, from 2018 to 2019, there was upwards of a 475% increase in licenses to grow hemp. That’s more than 16,800 licenses nationwide! Hemp is not a particularly persnickety plant and will grow almost anywhere. According to the “2020 U.S. Hemp Crop Report,” 336,655 acres of U.S. hemp are grown today with North Carolina being one of the more prolific hemp growing states, and this is where ALL G grows its hemp.

But how does this work? How does this leafy, stalky stuff become elixirs, breath sprays, and creams? Let’s begin the journey from seed to sale.

On the farm

ALL G Essential’s hemp farmers grow gluten-free, non-GMO, organic hemp, relying not on chemicals, but ladybugs and praying mantises as natural defenders of the plant. Hemp is a fast-growing plant. From seed to harvest, it reaches a gangly six to 15 feet in just four months. Hemp is harvested for CBD just before it’s finished flowering, causing the plant to produce fewer seeds and more fiber. After harvesting, it’s the plant’s long fibers from which the CBD will be extracted.   

Processing the product

There are three different kinds of extraction processes, isolate, full-spectrum, and broad-spectrum, and their differences lie in the number and percentage of compounds that remain in the product once it’s processed.

Isolate CBD

This method extracts the CBD from all the other compounds in the plant and creates a product that is solely CBD, 99% pure.

Full-spectrum CBD

This process includes all cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant so that users receive its full benefits. Also included in full-spectrum is the hemp plant’s legal limit of THC, no more than 0.3%, which is not enough to produce a “high.”

Broad-spectrum CBD

Broad spectrum CBD processing falls somewhere between isolate and full-spectrum. Beginning as full-spectrum oil, including the full-range benefits of all of the plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes, broad-spectrum is refined further to eliminate the THC so that the final product contains no THC whatsoever.

ALL G Essentials manufactures and sells broad-spectrum CBD products that provide the benefits of all the plant’s cannabinoids and terpenes and none of the THC.    

Oil vs. water

Better and more efficiently absorbed by the body than an oil-based CBD product, a water-soluble CBD product is also absorbed to a greater degree, the act of which is referred to as bioavailability–the ease and effectiveness by which substances are absorbed by the body. Because oil and water don’t mix and the human body is made up mostly of water, it’s easier for it to absorb water-soluble substances. 

Our promise

ALL G confirms that the CBD used in our products is from 100% U.S. Federal Farm Bill Compliant Industrial Hemp. Our CBD products are tested by third party, external laboratories to ensure we meet these standards. ALL G guarantees that our manufactured CBD extracts are legally grown, organic, certified, industrial hemp plants, grown in the U.S.A. and contain no gluten. ALL G offers one certificate of analysis for every hemp product purchased and two certificates of analysis (COA) with every CBD product purchased. Please read our COA page for instructions on how to read your analyses. 

Final thoughts

A common plant that virtually disappeared for nearly a century, hemp is now able to take its rightful place as a crop with a myriad of consumer and industrial benefits. Now that you know the purity standards of ALL G products, from organically, non-GMO, and gluten-free hemp to pure CBD that’s manufactured into innovative products, you can rest assured that ALL G Essentials offers nothing less than the highest-quality CBD healing and lifestyle products on the market today. It’s all good!