Hemp Gazette reports..
New Zealand medical cannabis company Puro has kicked off the harvest of its crop, which it claims to be the largest in the country to date.
Planted in December last year, tens of thousands of plants have been grown on the 10-hectare site in Kēkerengū, on the Kaikōura coast of NZ’s South Island (Te Waipounamu). Cultivated under organic protocols, harvesting is being carried out entirely by hand by more than 40 workers over a period of around 5 weeks.
“This large-scale commercial harvest is a moment to celebrate,” said Puro Managing Director Tim Aldridge. “It has been a huge 12 months for Puro, from getting the licences, importing seed, completing facilities and building our team.”
The top flowers of the plants will be hang-dried, which is a traditional method Puro says is important to create full-spectrum products preserving terpenes and flavonoids. Conveyor belt dryers will be used for the biomass product and stalk and leaf will ultimately be ploughed into to the soil to help return nutrients ready for next year’s crop.
