The Cannabis Equipment News team recently traveled to the Wisconsin Cannabis Expo held in Milwaukee on June 4, 2022. At the show, we had an opportunity to interview equipment manufacturers, cultivators and new product developers to learn more about what they bring to the cannabis industry.
Coulee Cannabis Farms is a certified organic hemp operation based in southwest Wisconsin. The company, run by Don Clark and Lisa Van Houten, focuses on growing, processing and extraction to create CBD and CBD-A products for pain relief and treatment of stress and anxiety.
When Coulee began growing back in 2018, the company started partnering with a local certifier named Nature’s International for products including CBD and CBD-A oils, transdermal patches, and salves under the Full Spectrum brand.
It’s a relatively small grow operation, with plants taking up just 0.01 acres. Clark said he’s grown on a full acre before but that he just doesn’t need that much biomass to support his current business. But it’s also about providing a high-quality product.
“It’s nice because we can control the quality of the flower. We don’t just do small batch products but now we have a small batch operation on the growing side, too,” he said.
That’s not to say Coulee isn’t interested in growing its business. Clark said he’d love to build Coulee up to a point where it could support full-time employees instead of only bringing on temporary help for harvests. And he believes legalization in the state of Wisconsin would help not only expunge the records for individuals with cannabis offenses but let them put their knowledge of the plant toward legitimate business ventures.
The next Wisconsin Cannabis Expo, presented by the Shepherd Express, will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, November 19, 2022, at the Alliant Energy Center.
