Challenge

Along with a lifelong respect for the untapped utility of plants, this idea was also inspired by the seriously renewed subject of hemp production and extraction. The Botanex team quickly got to work on structuring a business model and inventing and building an industry-first extraction unit. With advances in technology along with government policy catching up to the times, the wide array of uses for plants like hemp have launched an entire cultural and innovation movement, a wave Botanex knew they had to get in front of. 

On December 12, the United States Congress voted to pass the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, more commonly referred to as the Farm Bill. As well as including important policy extensions for certain areas in agricultural and nutritional policy for the next five years, the bill also confirms the legalization of hemp — the term given to cannabis containing less than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — and provisions for its cultivation, transport and sale.

The regulatory doors have been opened and a flood of competition has begun to saturate the market. Companies have developed extraction devices that can be used for commercial scale hemp processes, taking the plant in its base form and turning it into crude which can then be sold for use in a seemingly endless array of products, from pharmaceuticals to raw materials for batteries. But where other companies want to extract as much hemp by-product as possible for wholesale use, Botanex seeks to become an innovator in Big Ag and Ag Technology, being THE precedent for education, new tech, finance and legal, pre and post-processing and market growth of not just hemp but plant extraction as a whole.

Botanex seeks to integrate industrial plant extraction with smart technology, realizing the value of not just producing raw materials for multiple products but the connection between smart integration and sustainability, environmental benefits, people, communities and economies.