The Lindstrom farm growing recreational cannabis to make potent extract
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Cannabis entrepreneurs have been racing to launch the state’s new recreational industry since legalization on Aug. 1, 2023.
Though most will say it’s been a slow and painful process, the wheels are moving for the few with a license. The state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has issued 45 licenses as of Sep. 25, the bulk of which belong to microbusinesses, or small businesses that can grow, manufacture and sell cannabis at one retail location.
They can also choose to focus on just one or two of those aspects. Concentrate Labs is one of the 45 licensed businesses. Just 12 of those are cultivators like them. All are small-scale operations except for one large-scale cultivator that OCM says it licensed this week.
The Lindstrom-based cultivation farm and business was the second to get a license from OCM.
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“It feels unreal,” said co-founder Preston Torres. “We spent so much time planning for this and getting ready, reading the rules, doing this application process, and now that we’re here and it’s running — it almost feels like we're still just planning and doing everything.”
Up until last week, when Minnesota’s two medical cannabis providers started adult-use sales, recreational cannabis was only available at tribal-run dispensaries. Although access has been expanded with RISE and Green Goods, Minnesotans are eager to see what a craft cannabis industry could look like in the next year.
“We’re at a point where critical work streams have come together, allowing state-licensed retailers to begin selling adult-use cannabis products to customers,” said OCM executive director Eric Taubel.
Lindstrom farm wants to lead in cannabis extracts
Concentrate Labs is now focusing on cultivation, growing 1,100 cannabis plants of 11 strains outdoors on a half-acre parcel of their 1.5-acre farm. It specializes in growing cannabis that can be turned into a potent concentrate that the business claims is chemical-free and natural.
The extracts can be used in dabs, edibles and smokeable vapes.
The original plan was to build an indoor farm to produce cannabis flower. But as OCM formalized rules for cannabis businesses, Torres and his co-founder, Max Young, decided to pivot.
“We kind of figured out that it didn’t really fit our skill set as much as we want and what we really love about these plants,” said Torres. “I learned from Max as we’ve had our relationship, that rosin really shines from these outdoor plants, and kind of found that that would be a really accessible part of the industry for us to kind of work our way into.”
The pair grew up in the Twin Cities and were friends before creating their own cannabis business together. Young brings seven years of experience growing cannabis in Michigan.
According to Young, growing outdoors is an industry standard for rosin. Most people are familiar with resin, which has a honey-like consistency and is typically found in vape cartridges sold in dispensaries. The process of resin extraction, while giving out higher yields, involves using chemicals like butane.
Rosin has more of a butter consistency and is a niche product. Rosin extraction uses heat and pressure instead of added chemicals. Young says their process involves frozen cannabis, an ice water bath and a hydraulic press.
“One big reason why I chose outdoor — not just the overhead cost for us — but also in my experience, growing the same exact strain inside versus outside, you get higher yields from the outside version of it. The sun has full penetration on the plants, so there's no need to prune all of this stuff off versus an indoor grow and you're growing with just LEDs directly face down,” he said.
And, it’s more sustainable to use the natural sun to grow rather than artificial lighting. Torres and Young also wanted to stand out among most other cultivators who will grow cannabis flower by producing something more niche: solventless, water-extracted rosin.
When MPR News visited the cannabis farm in Lindstrom on Sep. 4, some of the plants were 70 percent of the way to fully grown. A few have since grown to be 6 feet tall.
Looking out at the farm, Young smiled.
“I’m very proud,” he said. “And I’m just feeling really blessed to be part of it. Because this is all us. We’re young, you know, early 30s and just to see it start now here, it’s like, where are we going to be in five years?”
Young is in charge of cultivation at the farm. He’s always wanted to come back to his home state to produce adult-use cannabis.
“To be a co-founder of a full-on business is pretty mind blowing, because I’ve been in the industry for a while. I started as just a hand trimmer, trimming flowers for other growers, and then getting into the rec market there, and learning everything I’ve learned, it’s all kind of culminated to this,” said Young.
And for Torres, he’s one of many social-equity license holders who were given a chance to secure some of the first cannabis business licenses in Minnesota. The social-equity license category was created by legislators to give back to people like Torres who were impacted by cannabis prohibition.
“In my case, I had ran into getting tickets for cannabis, so just minor possessions,” he said, “It’s awesome being here. It’s like, it did help, right? That’s why we’re able to be where we’re at today and actually have this field, growing a crop this year.”
He says it’s empowering to open his business and help increase access to a plant that can help Minnesotans. Torres and Young hope their business can eventually do everything on its own, from seed to sale. Other than growing, that also includes getting approved by OCM to do manufacturing and eventually a dispensary where they can sell directly to consumers.
Cultivators say they can start harvesting cannabis in the next week
The goal this season is to get about 2,000 pounds of cannabis out of their farm in Lindstrom, also known as Roots & Resin Farms. Torres estimates he’ll be able to start harvesting cannabis in the next week.
Once the cannabis is harvested and cut, it’ll be packaged into a freezer. Then, it’s off to a manufacturing facility for extraction and packaged into a consumable product before it can make it to dispensaries. They’re in the process of seeking OCM approval for manufacturing to do in-house extraction.
“Through the end of October, we’ll probably be done harvesting. After that, it really depends on who's set up and what the state was able to approve as far as licenses go,” said Torres.
Concentrate Labs’s cannabis will need to go through a licensed manufacturer, transporter and testing facility before making it to the shelves — a process that could take at least a couple weeks or longer if manufacturers, transporters and testing facilities aren’t set up yet.
As of Sept. 24, only one manufacturer and two testing facilities have been licensed by the OCM. No transporters had been issued licenses.
“It’s kind of funny because it’s the beginning of the end of our setup,” he said. “We have dispensaries and we have some cultivators. Now we need some bridges.”
If all goes well, Torres says the earliest their products could get into dispensaries is late October. But it’s entirely dependent on whether the processing chain is set up.
Their business model is limited to the outdoors which means it’s now seasonal, but the hope is to get their manufacturing approval from OCM soon. And Torres is ready to see Minnesota’s cannabis market come to fruition.
“For the most part, I think we’ll see 99 percent of Minnesota’s cultivators and dispensaries are going to be more craft,” Torres said.
