If you ask Tim O’Brien, owner of Fitchburg, Wisconsin-based Apple Wellness, CBD products have changed the face of his retail business. “They are flying off the shelves,” he says, thanks to word of mouth, referrals and testimonials singing the praises of this product in support of everything from mood and sleep to digestion, sports recovery and performance and more.
Natural retailers and their shoppers are ground zero for this booming market, with market research firm SPINS reporting that 97% of CBD’s roughly $130 million in sales in 2018 happened in the natural channel. But the natural products industry is a discerning one, defined by educated shoppers and retailers who do their due diligence. In a new category like CBD, brands need to demonstrate and communicate their commitment to quality and traceability—from seed to shelf.
It starts with the soil. High quality soil is important for all plants, but especially for hemp. Hemp is considered a “phytoremediative” plant, meaning it draws up heavy metals and toxins more aggressively than other crops—hemp was tested to remediate the soil around Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster site. Heavy metals and toxins that could be in hemp can become even more concentrated when the hemp biomass goes through the extraction process. At Boulder, Colorado-based Charlotte’s Web, soil health and suitability are studied before planting season.
Charlotte’s Web tests the soil of each field it is considering planting in well before a decision is made to use the field. On its company operated farms in eastern Colorado, seeds are planted and grown without pesticides and where the dry climate yields better hemp flowers capable of producing high quality CBD. In some cases, Charlotte’s Web partners with contract farmers in Oregon and Kentucky, but even there it provides the hemp seeds and has the same level of quality control as the company does at its Colorado farm. The key for Charlotte’s Web is that it exercises close control over plant genetics, which co-founder Joel Stanley says is critical to ensuring consistency. “Each genetic of hemp has its own phytochemical fingerprint,” he explains. “You cannot treat all hemp like it’s the same.”
Quality control then extends to formulation, where Charlotte’s Web ensures quality by testing for microbials, residual solvents, heavy metals and pesticides. Charlotte’s Web sets the highest level of industry standard for knowing its raw materials. “We know where it’s been, where it was harvested, where it started and where it’s going to go,” says Ray Sitorius, senior director of cultivation operations at Charlotte’s Web. “We know the weather, we know the conditions, we know who’s touched it, who’s been close to it. This is of utmost importance to maintaining quality and knowing every bottle of product is going to be consistent.”
The next step in the supply chain is retail. Because social media and word of mouth are often consumers’ forays into CBD, shoppers tend to do research before setting foot in a store, says Sindy Wise, former senior director of apothecary, Lucky’s Market. So, retailers need to be able to answer every kind of question from the very basic to the very specific, “everything from where it was grown to how it was extracted to what makes one brand different from another,” she says.
Here, quality and testing benefits retailers by providing the transparency and traceability they need to answer such questions. “Having sourcing, processing and extraction information is very important because each step can be done well or done poorly,” O’Brien adds. “We want to work with brands who do it the right way.”
Wise predicts that hemp will follow the path forged by ingredients like probiotics, which have infiltrated nearly every food, beverage and supplement category as research reveals more and more benefits. Because CBD impacts the endocannabinoid system (ECS)—responsible for appetite, energy, immunity, memory, sleep, mood and more—there are countless areas for research and application across a range of wellness issues, even as researchers just beginning to understand this system itself.
The bottom line? There’s no slowing down any time soon. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t hear half a dozen testimonials about the efficacy of CBD,” says O’Brien. “It’s a game changer.”
Hemp Hero: Charlotte’s Web
Why quality and transparency are paramount in the explosive CBD market
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Each genetic of hemp has its own phytochemical fingerprint. You cannot treat all hemp like it’s the same.”
Joel Stanley
co-founder, Charlotte’s Web
Having sourcing, processing and extraction information is very important because each step can be done well or done poorly. We want to work with brands who do it the right way.”
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Charlotte’s Web
Charlotte’s Web is a proud partner of the Hemp Collective—a New Hope Network and Natural Products Insider initiative dedicated to supporting quality and transparency in the hemp industry.
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Brandon Beatty,
CEO and founder of Bluebird Botanicals
