The small team at La Ferme Médicale swapped boots and pruning shears for white coats and gloves. From growers, Raphaël de Pablo and Alex Mak have gone on to become apprentice chemists, since they can finally make the products from their well-being cannabis cultivation themselves.
It is in the heart of the Landes forest that La Ferme Médicale inaugurates its brand new laboratory this Monday. Biolandes, an industrialist renowned worldwide for the manufacture of hundreds of natural plant-based extracts, and which looks with interest at the innovations of the young company, has reserved a small place for it. But beware, hidden in a shed at the back of the gigantic site, and sealed off behind two large sliding doors, the laboratory only opens after showing its credentials… important in the choice of our location” says Raphaël de Pablo, founder of La Ferme Médicale.
“From seed to finished product”
Everything accelerated last December for La Ferme Médicale. The Council of State decided to definitively cancel the government decree prohibiting the sale of hemp flowers and leaves loaded with CBD, the non-psychotropic molecule of cannabis, thus opening the way even further to the CBD market. in France.
“Until this decision, we could grow and harvest cannabis [sans THC (tétrahydrocannabinol) la molécule psychotrope de la plante], but we weren’t allowed to process the flowers, explains Raphaël de Pablo, which is why we had to go to Germany to carry out the processing before returning to France for marketing. This decision will finally allow us to control the entire chain, from the seed to the finished product. The highest French court relied on scientific data establishing that CBD has “decontracting and relaxing properties, but does not have a psychotropic effect and does not cause addiction. »
Supercritical CO2 extraction, a kind of purifier
La Ferme Médicale did not wait long to react and invest in a CO2 (carbon dioxide) extraction laboratory, which will allow the company specializing in well-being cannabis to process its own hemp harvest, which now stands at 8 hectares located in southern Gironde.
The supercritical CO2 extraction machine (matter halfway between liquid and gas, obtained when CO2 is heated to more than 31°C and subjected to a pressure of more than 73 bars) is state-of-the-art equipment that makes it possible to isolate and remove a molecule or a compound with great precision. It acts as a sort of purifier. “We can recover 99% of the molecules of the plant” assures Raphaël de Pablo. How ? “CO2 in its supercritical state behaves like a solvent, explains Maryam Rabla, project manager at SFE Process, the manufacturer of this extractor, based in Nancy. It can thus capture the different molecules that are in the plants, and depending on the weight it pours them into each of the separators. »
“It’s like when the water crosses the coffee, summarizes Jérémy Lagrue, president and creator of SFE: it dissolves the aromas of coffee and the caffeine. It’s the same with our machines, except that they use CO2, which allows us to recover pure aromas. It’s as if at the bottom of your cup, there was no more water but only pure coffee extract. “CO2 technology is already used in the fields of perfumery, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, etc.
High cost
Once harvested, the cannabis and its flower are crushed to be reduced to dust, and placed in an extraction chamber, in which the CO2 is sent under pressure, “which will make it possible to separate the molecules, such as cannabinoids or terpenes, continues Raphaël de Pablo. From there, we will be able to establish different formulations according to our products. What interests us is to find the full spectrum of molecules. »
Another advantage, “CO2 leaves no trace of solvent in the final extract, whereas in the processing industries, sometimes carcinogenic petroleum solvents are used, of which there are always minute traces” assures Jérémy Lagrue. The investment cost is “the only limit” of this technology. A machine can indeed cost several hundred thousand euros depending on its size, and for hemp, it takes a ton of cannabis to produce a liter of terpene extract, and a kilo for 70 cl of cannabinoids. The production cost is of the order of “about 4,000 euros to transform 50 kg” estimates Raphaël de Pablo.
125 cannabis growers in New Aquitaine
La Ferme Médicale currently offers four products in the form of oil, “which meet needs concerning problems of anxiety, inflammation, pain and sleep-related difficulties” indicates Raphaël de Pablo. “We are present in 72 pharmacies, continues the entrepreneur, and our objective is to diversify by also going into the market for capsules and cosmetics based on cannabinoids. »
La Ferme Médicale also intends to become a key player in the sector. “There are 125 farmers in New Aquitaine who grow cannabis, 89 of whom are well-being hemp, the rest being positioned on food or textile hemp. We want to develop the wellness hemp sector in the region, by offering processing and distribution, which many farmers are not able to do. »
The laboratory aims to eventually produce 40 to 50 tons
The La Ferme Médicale laboratory wishes to transform the harvest of other farmers, and hopes to process “20 tonnes of harvest this year, including 2.5 tonnes from our own production. In a few days we will have a bottling machine which will allow us to fill, label and cap the vials, and we wish to acquire a second extraction machine in June, which could allow us to inflate our volume to 40 or even 50 tonnes. »
That’s not all. Raphaël de Pablo also wants to open up to new products. “We are also going to test spirulina, mushrooms, propolis (vegetable resin)… Mushrooms, for example, are a new market that is opening up in France, and we are going to launch a project with a mushroom farm based in Bordeaux. »