Seven brothers started Charlotte’s Web because they believed in creating a world where good health is attainable for everyone. From our seeds and soil to our hands-on approach to farming, our rigorous standards for quality and consistency are what set our company apart. 

We grow our hemp the best way we know how: with quality and care in every step. That’s why we oversee production at every point along the way, beginning with high-quality raw materials.  

But what do all these steps entail, exactly? 

Let us take you on a journey through the Charlotte’s Web hemp production process, from seed to shelf to you. 

Winter: Pre-Planting Season 

Each winter, we make it our mission to assess the previous year’s output and prepare for the upcoming planting season in spring. Specifically, we look at last year’s production and the processes we used in order to better understand points of improvement. Once we’ve implemented adjustments and improvements for the upcoming year, the pre-planting season can officially begin.  

For new farms, we start things off by doing a full farm assessment, which involves crop rotation, testing for any prior use of pesticides, and inspecting soil for heavy metals and water for microbes. Soil and water sampling are particularly important. We test the soil’s nutrient content and perform irrigation testing to ensure there are no contaminants. 

Existing farms tend to undergo a lighter assessment due to the simple fact that we use them ourselves each and every year. Since we don’t use any of the synthetic pesticides you might find in traditional agriculture, testing for pesticides and heavy metals on these farms is minimal. 

Lastly comes field preparation, which tends to vary farm to farm. We grow on many different fields across the country and no two farms are the same. Different row spacing is maintained based on planting date, hemp variety, farming equipment, etc. If we happen to be planting next to conventional fields (which we try not to do, as we favor organic farms only), a 50-meter buffer zone is used, typically. 

 

Spring: Planting Season 

Once spring rolls around, it’s time to introduce our proprietary hemp genetics into the mix and physically place plants in the ground to nurture and grow. Different farms use different kinds of tractors and equipment for this task. 

Seeds are either sown and germinated in a greenhouse or seeded directly in the field. Greenhouse nurseries are used for the majority of our production fields to care for our seedlings before they’re brought outside. 

Then, they’re planted using a combination of wheel planters and workers who pick the seedlings out of a tray and place it into the planting wheel directly. 

 

Summer: Growing Season 

As summer approaches, plants are nurtured toward maturity. We trust the earth to provide our plants with plenty of sunshine and water, and hope Mother Nature allows each plant to grow strong and healthy. To ensure a healthy crop we add nutrients before planting as well. 

All fields are monitored and weeded to help ensure no harmful chemicals end up on the plants. 

Fall: Harvest Season 

While some of our hemp genetics might mature a bit earlier, fall is one of our favorite seasons, as this is typically when we get to harvest the fruits (or hemp) of many months of dedication and labor. 

We start by watching and monitoring plants carefully to identify the best time to harvest, ensuring each crop yields the most impactful benefits for our family of customers. This tends to be more of a dance with Mother Nature to determine the optimal harvest window. Things like rain or snow can impact our harvest plans. 

Once the plants are ready, they are harvested either mechanically or by hand. Truth be told, each farm executes this task a little bit differently. View a 360 virtual reality tour of our hemp harvesting.

 

Processing & Final Packaging 

Once Mother Nature is done working her magic, the rest of the hemp manufacturing process rests primarily on the shoulders of our extraction and processing teams.  

Extraction is accomplished either with CO2 or an alcohol-based process depending on the compounds required and product being produced (our Original Formula oil is alcohol-extracted, whereas our other products are CO2-extracted). The output is then tested again for potency and chemical composition, then batch labeled for the dilution process. 

After dilution and blending, bottling and packaging are performed and the consumable finished product is tested one last time for heavy metals, potency, residual solvent, pesticides, and microbiological contamination to meet our very stringent, FDA-compliant, product specifications. 

Only after the finished product passes all screenings will it make its way to the shelves, and then to you!