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.
Top Shelf Hemp Co. specializes in growing craft smokable hemp products. The company started in the craft CBD flower space, but has since branched into alternative cannabinoids, like Delta-8, THC-O and HHC.
Top Shelf maintains a small eight-acre farm in St. Louis, Missouri that grows about 20,000 plants. According to David Rook, sales and marketing director at Top Shelf, the farm emphasizes organic methods and high-end genetics.
Top Shelf also manages a 5,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Earth City, MO, about 20 miles northwest of St. Louis. The factory has about 60 employees who trim the product and manufacture pre-rolls, gummies, cartridges and disposables. Rook admits that it is a lot of tedious labor as almost everything is done by hand, from twisting pre-rolls to placing labels. Top Shelf also does a lot of white label business and while the company is trying to get more automated, Rook says employees made more than two million pre-rolls last year, all by hand.
At the time, the cannabis market seems laser focused on highly potent THC products, but Rook foresees a future in which consumers evolve into consumer specific cannabinoid blends catered to each person’s specific needs.
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.

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