Nearly three years ago, we made our first application for a hemp cultivation licence from the Irish Government. The first step in our plan was to trial different varieties of hemp to see what suited our growing conditions on the aptly named Wild Atlantic Way. We grew outdoor, in a couple of poly-tunnels and we worked with farmers to share the knowledge and increase yield and quality. We experimented with different growing methods such as Regenerative farming , using mycelium networks, biochar and microbial teas to feed and protect the plants in a manner which is in balance with our environment.

Our intention, in the beginning, was to extract the compound Cannabidiol (CBD) from the hemp using a solvent extraction such as ethanol or CO2 but early in our research we switched to developing a solvent-free extraction process. We did this to satisfy the requirement of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) for a mechanically extracted oil. The intended market for our product is in food manufacturing. We see our oil as an ingredient to be used in health food supplements, tinctures or baked goods. it was vital that our process and resulting oil conformed to food law.

Daniel and I registered for a Masters in Ag-Innovation at the National University of Ireland and began developing our Solventless Processing Method. We were able to take this time to research the extraction processes currently available. We didn’t feel that cold pressing in its current form was capable of producing a CBD rich oil so we took the definition of cold pressing and innovated.

We recently submitted the details of our process to the Department of Health and the FSAI and a week before Christmas we were notified that our process has been approved for the production of CBD oil in Ireland. For a small company bootstrapping their entry into what is a mammoth new industry , I am incredibly proud of our journey to get to here.

We also received the news that our facility based on the West Coast of Ireland has been approved by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to begin production of CBD oil for the food sector. We are entering 2020, with a compliant solvent-free processing method, a certified processing facility and a decarboxylated, compliant, traceable, full-spectrum Irish CBD oil. If you are interested in learning more about our products I would be happy to provide samples and certificates of analysis.

If you are a food company interested in adding a compliant CBD as an ingredient to your product or a CBD company looking to develop a traceable Irish brand, please feel free to send me a message.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Laura Jayne Foley MSc,

CBD@wildatlantichemp.com

Social media @laurajaynefoley