The air is getting cooler. The leaves are turning. And the Sunsoil team is still busy harvesting.
This year is unlike the others. Like many businesses in the area, we had trouble hiring for the season. That meant running with a lean crew—a small fraction of the size we’ve had in years past.
But so far, we’ve harvested over 100,000 pounds of hemp—our biggest haul ever—and there’s still more to go.
How’d we do it?
Scouting the Fields
A successful harvest starts with planning during the offseason. Across our two farms, we plant several different varieties of hemp so that they will mature at different times.
This is done intentionally to give us time to harvest each plant at its peak.
Each morning, our team surveys the field, identifying the plants that are ready to be cut. We cut and harvest each plant by hand.
The Drying Barn
Once the plants are harvested, we cart them to our drying barns. Here, the plants are hung and left to dry.
Once dry, the plants get broken down. The buds, which contain the bulk of the plant’s oils and cannabinoids, fall off easily.
We collect the dried hemp and pack it in food-grade bags for storage.
Then the process repeats: back out to the field to scout the next crop of plants.
What’s Next
Hiring for harvest this year was a challenge. But we’ve already broken our record for biggest harvest, despite only having a fraction of the hands on deck.
How’d we do it?
We made breakthrough improvements in our drying and breakdown process. With the help of our amazing core team, we’ve moved faster than ever—with our smallest team ever.
It’s not time to celebrate quite yet. We still have a few weeks of work ahead of us, as our later-finishing varieties ripen.
Onward!