Zolman Becomes One Of The First Organic Hemp Growers In State
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Don Zolman not only uses CBD oil for his aches and pains, he’s one of the first Indiana farmers to grow organic hemp for his own line of CBD products.
And he’s doing it this year in Kosciusko County.
Zolman, president of Zolman Farms and owner of Zemp LLC, said visually a person can’t tell the difference between hemp and marijuana.
“But industrial hemp is very low in THC and there are a few varieties now that have been isolated that have zero THC,” he said. “The hemp raised for CBD oil is always focused on low to zero THC.”
Cannabidiol (CBD) is a naturally occurring compound found in the resinous flower of cannabis. Zolman said the oil works in the body to help alleviate pain and inflammation and helps people with a lot of different issues.
“It really does work in a lot of areas, but it’s different for different people according to what their problem is,” he said.
The hemp doesn’t contain enough THC to get anyone high.
“When I first started researching it, I decided to be my own guinea pig. I went down to Purdue several times for some field days, just exploring the crop and trying to learn more about it because I had very little knowledge of it at all. And while there, talking to a couple of geneticists, I got the name of some credible companies where I could get CBD oil that I could trust that it had what they said was in it,”Zolman said.
He said CBD oil is being sold everywhere, but not all of it is the same. He stressed that buyers need to know it’s coming from a reputable source. “And that’s really the main reason I got into marketing my own product because I saw so much fraud in the industry that I knew people were buying products that wouldn’t really work for them,” he said.
In his testing, he found it really did have some benefits for him.
“I’ve got severe arthritis in my left knee, and for the last several years I had to get at least one cortisone shot a year in my knee, and sometimes two a year because the pain got so severe I’d be limping around. So I started taking CBD oil just to see what kind of effects I would have, and what I found was that I didn’t need a cortisone shot last year for the first time in four years,” he said.
He was researching hemp and CBD oil as he was looking for an alternative crop to grow.
“Farming is the main part of my life, so I’m always looking for an alternative crop, always looking for a way for the farm to be more profitable because corn and soybeans aren’t very profitable crops right now,” he said. “That got me researching industrial hemp in the first place, and the thing that I kept hearing about the most was the CBD.”
Hemp can be used for its fiber and grain, too.
“There’s over 20,000 different uses for industrial hemp,” Zolman said. “But the real hot topic was CBD oil because I kept listening to people talk about what benefits they received from CBD oil. It changed people’s lives.”
He suggested people should be skeptical about it, but read up on it and ask a lot of questions to educate themselves. His company, Zemp, also shares information on hemp and CBD on its website.
Zolman testified before the state legislature to make industrial hemp a legal crop. In the 2018 Farm Bill, the federal government legalized industrial hemp. He said Indiana is in the process of passing legislation to make it a fully legal crop in the state.
“This year, (we’re) still going to be operating under an experimental license, of which there’s 1 of 100 in the state of Indiana that will have a license this year and we’re one of the licensees, but now there’s going to be a lot of research. More and more people using it are finding the product really has a lot of benefits,” Zolman said.
One of the benefits, especially among women, is weight loss, said Betty Henline, sales and marketing for Zemp. She said women have lost anywhere from 20 to 40 pounds with CBD oil. Zolman said his own daughter lost 20 pounds using it.
“I had no idea that it would do that. It’s probably not going to do that for everybody,”?he said.
Henline said, “I feel more active. I feel more alert. I’ve been taking it for five months now. And I just feel more focused, more active.”
A pipet delivers drops of CBD oil under a person’s tongue. After 30 seconds, they can just swallow the drops. Zolman said some people don’t like the flavor, but it can be added to tea or orange juice.
“There’s a lot of different products out there, but I focused on the oil because that’s the best bang for the buck. There’s gummy products, there’s (other products), but you’re just paying way too much money for the amount of CBD that you’re getting in the product. ... My focus is to make sure people get a product that’s going to do them some good,” Zolman said.
A higher concentration results in a better response, he said. If a person uses CBD oil, they also need to be consistent with it.
Zolman will begin growing hemp this year under his 2019 Indiana Industrial Hemp License, issued by the Office of Indiana Seed Commissioner. The license was issued April 5 and expires Dec. 31.
Zolman started his own private label after visiting a couple of operations in Kentucky. “I went to their fields and saw their product grown in the field, because I wanted to know where their product was coming from and that it was first-rate product. My product that I market, I know where it’s coming from, I know what it is, and anyone that buys some gets third-party certification,” he said.
Henline said they also have pain cream coming “very soon. I have tried it and it works for me.”
Zemp CBD oil can be reserved at zemphemp.com and/or picked up in Warsaw at Tranzstar, 1406 W. Winona Ave., or Vision It Now, 119 S. Buffalo St.; or be shipped to the purchaser.
He said some banks “haven’t gotten up to speed on” hemp, which has created some issues with online sales, but he thinks that will be sorted out within a year or so.
Zolman said they’re talking to some stores about carrying the product in Warsaw, Plymouth and in Fort Wayne.
The hemp Zolman is growing won’t just be used for CBD oil. He’s also growing it for fiber, seed and grain. “I’m doing some research projects with different varieties ... (to) find what varieties work well in our climate,” he said.
He said all of his products will be certified organic.
“I’m learning more about it every day. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have known much about it,” Zolman said.
