• La Ferme Médicale is a young Bordeaux company set up by Raphaël de Pablo, which mainly manufactures CBD oils, a molecule found in cannabis.

  • To do this, she harvests her own cannabis, in a field in the south of the Gironde, near Langon.

  • Even if this cannabis does not have THC, the psychotropic molecule, it nevertheless attracts envy, the entrepreneurs having suffered a robbery last year with a theft of nearly 2,000 feet.

It is not just the harvest which has just started in Gironde.

A stone's throw from the prestigious Sauternes vineyard, near Langon in the south of the department, Raphaël de Pablo, founder of La Ferme Médicale, just started harvesting… cannabis a few days ago.

By the beginning of October, he aims to collect 500 kg of flowers, for this second harvesting campaign which has seen the cultivated area go from 1.4 hectares to 6.5 hectares in one year this year.

That is 30,000 plants to harvest.

“Things have changed considerably this year, underlines Raphaël de Pablo, since our products are now sold in 25 pharmacies and around fifteen stores, and we have more and more demand.

"

An effect on "anxiety, sleep problems and inflammation"

Cannabis, or rather “well-being hemp”, cultivated by La Ferme Médicale, is obviously completely legal.

The plant that grows in this field does not have THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the molecule that produces psychotropic effects in cannabis sold on the illegal drug market.

The objective here is above all to extract the CBD (or cannabidiol which produces relaxing effects), to manufacture oils, and soon capsules, "which act on anxiety, sleep problems and inflammation" assures Raphaël by Pablo.

"In France, around twenty plants are authorized, and it is one of them that we are growing", continues Raphaël de Pablo.

Once cut, the plant is transported to an old tobacco dryer, still numerous in Gironde, where it remains to dry for two weeks.

“Then we send the flowers to a laboratory in Germany where they extract the CBD and all the molecules, the plant comprising more than 200 cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids,” explains the entrepreneur.

He points out that if his products contain only 5% of CBD, they would be “more effective than 80% of the products on the market”, precisely thanks to the contribution of all these elements contained in the plant.

“It's called full spectrum.

"

Hold-up

But growing cannabis, even without THC, is no easy job. Raphaël de Pablo and his companions are effectively forced to watch over the grain, and to sleep in tents on their plot to watch over their harvest. Last year, they were attacked by six armed individuals. "It happened in the middle of the night, they shot in our direction, burned one of our cars, and stole 1,800 plants out of the 6,000 we had at the time" remembers the young entrepreneur, still "shocked" by this aggression.

The gang, who were obviously trying to use the hemp flowers from this harvest, to mix them with illegal cannabis, was quickly arrested.

"But, in this harvest period, the atmosphere remains heavy, breathes the young man, we can see that people regularly pass in front of our plot to do scouting ..." And here, if the gendarmes carry out regular rounds, it is is good for… protecting the cultivation of this cannabis.

Target 300,000 bottles of Burdi W, the cannabis "wine"

However, this is not what stops vocations, quite the contrary.

“Last year, there were three fields like ours in France, this year there are 400!

But we want to go further, and I hope that from next year we will be allowed to process our product here in the region, instead of sending it to Germany.

The transformation is in fact not yet authorized in France.

For this, La Ferme Médicale aims to set up its own laboratory.

"But we need to acquire a machine that costs 41,000 euros, and as our sector, which is deemed to be at risk, is not open to bank credit, we have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on kisskissbankbank" explains the company's marketing manager, Alex Mak.

Soon 300,000 bottles of Burdi W, from wine to cannabis

Raphaël de Pablo is also pursuing another CBD-based project, Burdi W (Burdigala Weed), from wine to cannabis - even if legally we speak of a flavored drink made from wine. Normal, after all, since we are in Bordeaux. After having produced 10,000 bottles this year, “we very quickly found ourselves out of stock, because there is a very strong demand, it is madness. »A new bottling has just been completed. “Our goal is to produce 10,000 bottles per month, and to reach 300,000 bottles in 2022.” Customers from thirteen different countries have already come forward.

The entrepreneur insists, however: “The two products have nothing to do with each other.

"" Burdi W wine is very fun, whereas with La Ferme Médicale the objective is to improve the well-being of customers who encounter real concerns in their daily life, with a natural product.

While there is no real study on the action of CBD on sleep, it does appear that it does play a role in anxiety.

Science

Cannabis domesticated for the first time 12,000 years ago, according to an international study

Justice

Grenoble: The Court of Cassation quashes the conviction of a CBD trader

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