Hemp and cannabis lab testing in Las Vegas has allowed Digipath Labs the opportunity to examine the cannabis plant thoroughly and draw certain conclusions backed by a tremendous amount of cannabinoid and terpene data. The use of pesticides on cannabis plants can result in failed tests once it reaches the lab testing facility, but we may have found a solution. Mold is a big problem for cannabis and hemp growers not only in Nevada but in other states like California as well. We believe a terpene technology solution could solved that problem, and so please see the press release from today down below.
Company Looks to Secure Intellectual Property Rights for Terpene-Based Pesticide
(LAS VEGAS, NV, March 11, 2019 ) – Digipath, Inc. (OTCQB: DIGP), a service-oriented independent testing laboratory, data and media firm focused on the developing cannabis and hemp markets, is pleased to announce that it has filed a United States provisional patent application for “A METHOD OF DETERMINING TERPENE-BASED BIOCONTROL AGENTS FOR CANNABIS AND HEMP.” This application relates to a method of using natural, plant based, non-toxic compounds instead of chemical pesticides in cannabis and hemp cultivation.
Terpenes are major components of plant derived essential oils and have been used by humans for thousands of years. Natural terpenes play a critical role in a plant’s interaction with its environment, including repelling pests and attracting pollinators. Mold presents a difficult problem for many cannabis cultivators, resulting in a failure rate of approximately 10% for flower harvests in Nevada, with higher failure rates in California. Mold infections cost cultivators significant money and time, and present potential health risks for consumers. Synthetic fungicides also present their own regulatory, economic, and health risks.
While cannabis growers represent a small portion of a vast pesticide market, the impact of noxious pesticides on cannabis crops is significant. With an average price of cannabis in Nevada of $2,799 per pound according to the Nevada Department of Taxation, a tainted crop can be tremendously costly to the cultivator. Through its testing lab operations in Nevada, Digipath has observed a roughly 1% failure rate of cannabis flower submitted for testing due to pesticide issues. Results in neighboring states like California are significantly worse, upwards of 20% in some areas. And while Digipath’s efforts are focused on its core market of cannabis, its science team believes that there are other large agricultural markets for this technology.
“We sought to take advantage of the production of terpenes by cannabis plants as naturally-derived microbial control agents,” offered Cindy Orser, PhD, Digipath’s Chief Science Officer, “Not only can terpenes be used to distinguish and categorize cannabis cultivars from one another, we noticed that certain cultivars fail for mold much more often than others and it can be tied to their terpene chemoprofile.”
Whether it is CBD lab testing in Nevada or hemp lab testing in Las Vegas, all of these products are susceptible to natural contaminants such as mold. A terpene technology is a natural solution to a big problem that will keep lab tests clean of toxins associated with pesticides. As a cannabis lab testing facility in Nevada we have been able to collect a tremendous amount of data on cannabis plants and their by-products. We have taken the opportunity that rare data has provided us to try and find terpene technology solutions for the entire cannabis industry.