A team of three former commandos has receive the first license in the British and Irish Isles to grow and harvest industrial hemp for cannabidiol (CBD) extraction.
The three former armed services members got the idea of growing hemp more than six years ago as they served as firefighters in Jersey. During that time, they had developed a fire-resistant building material from hemp. They named that product Hempcrete. This product was processed from the stems of hemp plants.
The trio then made up their minds to leave the fire service so that they could focus their time and energy on a joint venture to make these sustainable building materials. They named their company “Jersey Hemp” and after running it for three years, they now celebrate receiving the license to start harvesting hemp for CBD extraction.
David Ryan, the Chief Executive of Jersey Hemp said that he was delighted that they had secured this license. He promised that Jersey Hemp would now start bringing CBD products to the market using hemp with characteristics that are unique to the British Isles.
Ryan added that Jersey Hemp had been making CBD products before this license was granted, but the CBD they used was imported from other countries. Using the CBD that they extract themselves will result in cost savings, and this will enable them to reach more people with their products.
The current estimates suggest that the CBD market in the UK is worth £300 million ($362 million) and will grow to approximately £1 billion ($1.2 billion) by2025.
The license given to Jersey Hemp paves the way for the company to get a slice of the rapidly growing CBD market since Jersey Hemp will harvest between 30 and 40 tons of dried hemp flower each year. Nearly 5 percent of the hemp crop that they grow will be allocated to hemp varieties from which CBD can be extracted.
It should be remembered that in July, two farmers were forced to destroy their hemp crop just when it was nearing harvest because the British Home Office wrote to them saying that their crop was illegal.
Ali Silk and Patrick Gillett complied with the Home Office directive but they have since launched a public campaign to compel the Home Office to reverse its decision. They also want the Home Office to give other farmers licenses to grow industrial hemp as long as it doesn’t exceed the 0.2 percent THC limit set by the Home Office. The crop grown by Silk and Gillett was within this legal limit, but that didn’t stop the authorities from ordering the pair to destroy the plants.
Industry analysts believe that hemp industry players like Organigram Holdings Inc. (TSX.V: OGI) (NASDAQ: OGI) and SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB: SING) sympathize with the two British farmers who were told to destroy their crop, and they hope that farmers in Britain will also have hemp cultivation licenses like the one granted to Jersey Hemp.
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