Whole Plant vs. Flower-Only Hemp Processing for CBD Production

Tired of seeing misleading ads, and bound by industry restrictions, Jim Higdon, Co-Founder of Cornbread Cornbread Hemp, is working to enlighten CBD consumers with an analogy, using a product you probably have at home.

Based in Kentucky, Jim Higdon was a nationally recognized journalist covering marijuana policy for Politico and the Washington Post, who dropped everything to help co-found a premium CBD brand after seeing problems within the hemp industry. Cornbread Hemp was born of a desire to create the highest quality, full-spectrum CBD products possible by using flower-only extraction from hemp that was USDA-certified organic.

What’s all the hype about hemp buzzwords

Unfortunately, due to the many restrictions placed on CBD regarding its wellness benefits, talking to consumers about the many products available today isn’t as cut and dry as one would think. This ambiguity has allowed for the “creativity” in advertising to go askew when it comes to misleading verbiage.

Higdon has had enough, and he has come up with a creative and accurate depiction of what the difference between a whole-plant CBD product versus a flower-only product looks like. To show consumers why a flower-only product is superior to whole plant, he thought of orange juice. You may already get the idea, but you should watch Cornbread Hemp’s new video to see for yourself.

Hemp isn’t new

Confusing advertising tactics for CBD products tout them as new, but hemp has been around for millennia. Knowing that this was simply an effort to separate CBD products from the illegal THC-containing products in the minds of consumers, Higdon became even more motivated to create a brand that talked about hemp the right way. The only difference between hemp and cannabis is the amount of THC in the individual plant.

Knowing the entourage effect is key to successful CBD supplementation, Higdon teamed up with his cousin, Eric Zipperle, to create the first full-spectrum, flower-only, USDA certified organic CBD product line. They knew going into it that the amount of labor involved in creating this high standard may not be the most cost-effective way to produce CBD, but that didn’t matter to them. It was all about creating the best product on the market. Cornbread Hemp stepped up to the plate with higher quality products while keeping them price competitive with whole-plant products.

Embracing hemp’s history in Kentucky

Higdon points out that his interest in the perception of hemp and cannabis products is founded on his experience as a youth in seeing marijuana farmers, who he knew as good citizens within his community, villainized in the media and called “The Cornbread Mafia” by federal prosecutors after major busts during the Reagan administration’s Drug War.

In keeping with this tradition and his proud Kentucky heritage, Higdon has absolutely no hesitation in stating that this area of the country has, in the past, and is still capable of growing the highest quality hemp available. “...our commitment to cannabis excellence won't allow us to produce anything but the best CBD,” he said.

Watch the podcast to hear Higdon discuss his roots in cannabis, what FDA regulation can do to benefit the conversation between CBD producers and consumers, and why orange juice is the perfect descriptor for why Flower-Only is better than whole-plant CBD production.