Agri-Products, Inc. has completed building from scratch an innovative hemp harvester that the company hopes will reduce the labor demand of the hemp industry at the time of harvesting the plants.
This prototype that is now ready to be tested became possible after the company secured a Value-Added Prototype grant to the tune of $18,875 from York County, Nebraska. The innovators also worked closely with the York County Development Corp. during this project.
Because Nebraska doesn’t currently regulate the farming equipment used in the hemp industry, Agri-Products, Inc. is taking its creation to Oregon for the necessary field testing activities. The machine has been named “Hempsker 1.0.”
Don Freeman III, who works as a sales professional and a designer at Agri-Products, says that Hempsker 1.0 is primarily targeting farmers who are growing hemp for CBD extraction. The legalization of industrial hemp last year led to an explosion of hemp-derived CBD products, and this has in turn attracted many farmers to this lucrative cannabis plant.
The traditional equipment that has been available to harvest hemp for CBD extraction cuts the whole plant and carefully places it on a trailer so that no part of the plant is damaged during this process. This method of work makes the entire process very slow, and accidental damage to the cut plants is inevitable since it is hard to work in this way and succeed in preventing plants from falling off the trailer or pilling on top of each other.
Hempsker 1.0 was designed with these current limitations in mind, and the makers of this piece of equipment hope to solve those challenges. For example, rather than cut the entire plant and take it to a shed for sorting or drying, the Hempsker 1.0 separates the leaves and flowers from the stems. In this way, only what is needed during the extraction process is removed from the hemp plant at the time of harvesting.
Freeman reveals that he got the idea of building this hemp harvester after he visited Oregon and saw thousands of acres of the crop. He felt that he could contribute to the success of those farmers by giving them a machine that would reduce the need for manual labor.
It is therefore fitting that the company is taking the harvester to Oregon for testing, and the company hopes that the farmers will give it a warm welcome since they are the ones who will have the last word on whether the equipment is a success or not.
Industry watchers believe that hemp industry actors like VPR Brands LP (OTCQB: VPRB) and Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN) (OTCQB: WLDFF) could be very pleased that U.S. innovators are providing local solutions to U.S. hemp industry challenges instead of looking abroad for answers.
About HempWire
HempWire (HW) is a dedicated information provider focused on (1) aggregating hemp-related news, (2) issuing HempNewsBreaks designed to update investors on the latest developments in the hemp market, (3) enhancing corporate news releases, (4) providing full-service distribution and social media offerings to public and private client-partners and (5) designing and implementing all-inclusive corporate communication solutions. HW is strategically positioned within the rapidly expanding hemp sector with a team of journalists working to help a growing roster of public and private companies reach a wide audience of investors, consumers and members of the media. We leverage a vast network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets to deliver unparalleled visibility, recognition and content to the hemp industry. HempWire (HW) is where HEMP news, content and information converge.
To receive instant SMS alerts, text HEMPWIRE to 21000 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information please visit https://www.hempwire.com
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the HempWire website applicable to all content provided by HW, wherever published or re-published: https://www.hempwire.com/Disclaimer
Do you have a questions or are you interested in working with HW? Ask our Editor
HempWire (HW)
Denver, Colorado
www.hempwire.com
303.498.7722 Office
Editor@HempWire.net
