How to read a Hemp COA: Why most CBD% percentages are not real, why most COAs are not compliant and why the only number that matters is the CBD: THC ratio… CBD Seed Labs Follow Apr 7 · 5 min read

Imagine you are a farmer and you want to grow hemp for CBD. You do some research and decide you want to grow biomass and then process the biomass into high quality isolate that you then sell online or maybe you decided to focus on connoisseur smokable flowers. Either way, one of the first things you will need to start farming is high quality feminized seed. So you start searching for seeds and genetics online and much to your delight you find a wide variety of hemp seeds that could potentially meet your needs.You seed so many varieties and cultivars that interest you, that you start to get overwhelmed: T1 looks great but so does Cherry Blossom…Both of these places have ACDC, but which one is better??? So you start looking at Certificates of Analysis (COAs) to really get down to the nitty gritty. One the thing you realize early in the process is that you should try to maximize the total CBD percentage of your crop because that is a key determinant of your profitability. As you go through the COAs you see that some companies advertise 14% or 18% CBD and others advertise only 3% or 4%. Common sense tells you that 14% is greater than 3% so the choice seems like a no brainer right??? Wrong!!

Now that’s some good looking industrial hemp…

USDA Interim Final Rule of October 2019

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is clear on what it defines as legal industrial hemp according to the Interim Final Rule (IFR) it issued last October. One of the biggest changes that occurred was with respect to how the USDA calculates THC percentage for industrial hemp. Before the IFR only the Delta-9-THC was considered when calculating the THC percentage, but after the IFR, the total THC must be used to calculate instead. Look below for an example:

Old -Total CBD 14.6% Delta-9- THC 0.07%

New -Total CBD 14.6%Total THC 0.87%

So for you the farmer, this means that those beautiful CBD percentages like 14% or 18% are not legally considered industrial hemp, instead they are classified as marijuana and growing marijuana is still illegal according to federal law. Now before you get too scared and start to worry about being thrown in jail because the seeds you bought are going to grow “hot” plants take a deep breath and relax, there is still hope for you and your farm.

Cannabinoid ratios: The New Standard

With the IFR in place CBD:THC ratios are the best way to evaluate your hemp varieties. Instead of looking at CBD percentage alone and risking the possibility of having a hot crop. Smart farmers are looking at the big picture, which means evaluating the whole ratio.

So let’s take another look at our fictitious 14% hemp plant mentioned above. The COA comes back and it looks something like this:

Total CBD 14.6%, Total THC .87%

And then we calculate the CBD:THC ratio at 14.6/.87 or 16:1, which is actually pretty poor and since the total THC is greater than 0.3% this particular sample would be considered hot and require disposal since it’s technically marijuana, not industrial hemp ( Please note that I do NOT agree with this classification, but it is the law for now…)

Now let’s look at another COA, that on the surface looks a bit less appealing but has a significantly better CBD:THC ratio:

Total CBD 3.67%, Total THC .13%

And like above we calculate the CBD:THC ratio at 3.67/.13 or 28:1, which is an exceptional ratio (almost double the above ratio) and it’s 100% USDA compliant industrial hemp.

Legal industrial hemp with total THC less than 0.3%, Cherry Blossom Cultivar

WAIT! What does that mean for my total CBD percentage?

Now does this mean your beloved Hemp crop will only achieve 3.67% CBD? No, this just represents a legal COA and the 28:1 ratio if taken all the way to the 0.3% limit would probably come in with something more like 8–9% which is absolutely wonderful. Really? 8–9% is good?!?! You must be joking? Not at all.

The average strain of CBD hemp according to a recent research study has a 20:1 ratio or about 6% CBD when grown to the legal limit. If we use the alleged 14% COA and it’s 16:1 ratio from earlier in the article that number would be closer to 4% CBD, which is abysmal. The same research study found that the top tier CBD hemp usually achieves at least 25:1, while a rare few cultivars get to 30:1, but these are unicorns and likely result from individual variance within a population. So when you are evaluating hemp strains to plant this year, look for COA’s which demonstrate at least a 25:1 ratio to make sure you are maximizing your profit per acre.

But Company XYZ says their clones, seed, etc get at least 20% CBD and are still legal…

Unfortunately, claims like this sound enticing but are likely dubious at best. There are probably a few isolated individual phenotypes out there which can occasionally exceed 30:1, but they are few and far between and at this early stage in the burgeoning industry, they do not yet exist in consistent and stable seed form. Ask researchers at any US university hemp research program in the country, you will get the same answer. Now in a few years, after some extensive R&D, I am sure we will see these cultivars emerge, but right now it’s extremely unlikely…

What else should I look for in COA?

There are all sorts of ways to fake COAs or to game the system by hand selecting individual samples from the best plants on the field or growing a separate indoor plant for the COA or even doctoring the sample with isolate or other disingenuous practices, I’ve seen and heard of it all. Ask to see the official COA from the State or County agricultural commissioner. These guys don’t mess around, they take random samples from anywhere in the field, random parts of the plant and the chance for any sort of trickery goes out the window. If the official sample is at 25:1 or above, you have a legit cultivar, buy that seed and get to planting. If it’s 20:1 or 15:1 or less, my advice would be to take a good look around because there are plenty of seed suppliers out there with the good stuff. And when we sell out later this spring (and we will) I’d be happy to recommend them to you. In the meantime if you have any questions about how you can grow the best hemp and maximize your yield per acre with top tier genetics, please drop me a line or give me a call and I’d be happy to help you out.

Thanks

Dan

www.cbdseedlabs.com