Grower Stories #128: Adriane Polyniak

Bluegrass Hemp Oil Specializes in the Production of Natural CBD Products

The AskGrowers team sits down with Adriane Polyniak, co-owner and executive director of Bluegrass Hemp Oil, or BHO. She tells us about how her family’s personal experiences led to the creation of the brand and how they are now focused on creating natural, full-spectrum, and safe CBD products to help others. She also sheds some light on the brand’s sustainable growing techniques and why other brands should focus more on providing quality products rather than constantly looking towards the ‘next best thing’. #growerstories

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My name is Adriane Polyniak and I am one of the owners and the Executive Director of Kentucky Cannabis Company and Bluegrass Hemp Oil - both Kentucky-based, farm-to-family businesses focused on the creation of high-quality, full-spectrum cannabidiol (CBD) products. My husband and I entered the hemp industry as parent advocates. At age 3, our son was diagnosed with Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy. Hundreds of seizures and harmful pharma side effects led us to search for better options for him. During this time, we learned that non-intoxicating cannabis varieties rich in CBD (hemp) were beneficial for those suffering from epilepsy and began advocating for its legalization in Kentucky.

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Tia (AskGrowers) : Tell us how you started BHO?

Adriane Polyniak : With the passage of Kentucky’s SB50 and the Federal Farm Bill of 2014, Kentucky Cannabis Company was born. As one of the original six companies given the authorization to grow and the only company cultivating for cannabinoid production, we sought to create quality CBD products for our son and those in need. Our company remains vertically integrated and creates full-spectrum hemp extracts and CBD-infused products for consumers under the name of Bluegrass Hemp Oil.

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Tia : What’s your brand focus?

Adriane : Bluegrass Hemp Oil strives to be the CBD brand that offers the most trusted and comforting, yet elevated experience for discerning individuals who seek to live their best life. Our purpose is to educate consumers and destigmatize the use of natural cannabis products.

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Tia : How do you think you differ from other brands on the market?

Adriane : We are vertically integrated and manage every part of the process from breeding and cultivation to extraction, production, and testing. Our process begins with our Kentucky bred, proprietary hemp genetics and then moves to a bloom-only, hydrocarbon extraction process where we gently and safely remove all cannabinoids and terpenes from the plant material creating a full spectrum base from which all our products are created and formulated.

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Tia : What do you do to maintain sustainability in the company? How do you utilize the wastes? How much electricity do you spend on a daily basis? / Do you use IoT to reduce the spendings on sustainability? / Packaging issues / soil/ water etc.?

Adriane : We definitely do our best when it comes to sustainability. To begin, our cultivation is 100% outdoors which places no additional strain on the power grid. We use an environmentally friendly agricultural pest control method which is considered among the most promising applications for sustainable agriculture. It is an economical, reliable, and environmentally friendly pest management method by using living organisms to reduce pest populations.

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Tia : Do you have any tips for someone starting to use CBD?

Adriane : Absolutely! If possible, begin with a full-spectrum product. Start with a low serving size and increase slowly if needed after consistent use for 10-14 days.

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Tia : What things should the person pay attention to when choosing the brand/product?

Adriane : With so many products on the market today, it’s best to find a company that believes in the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, is focused on natural production methods, and provides a complete panel of tests that prove the purity of the product. Don’t fall into promises of quick results and novelty ways of consumption. Read the labels, confirm that it calls out the mg of Cannabidiol content, NOT total cannabinoids. Also, select a product that is NOT made from aerial parts and instead, look for bloom-only. The fewer added ingredients, the better. This is your health you are dealing with. Treat it with the respect it deserves.

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Tia : Do you advertise your products? If yes, where do you post them, what channels do you use for that?

Adriane : We use local radio advertising, in addition to traditional social media posts. We currently utilize Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Tia : Have you personally encountered negative attitudes towards you because of the use of cannabis or because of your choice of work related to cannabis?

Adriane : We started the CBD industry in Kentucky in 2014, so we’ve experienced it all. We have dealt with negative attitudes from everyone – from hemp fiber and seed advocates who told us our quest for CBD production was going to ruin the hemp industry and negate the efforts and strides they’d made to date, real estate developers and landlords who wouldn’t lease to us, merchant providers who stopped our ability to accept payments, to utility companies who wouldn’t provide us with services. And everyone in this industry deals with the daily struggle that is social media - an avenue that is essential to the success of businesses today that is all but closed off to those of us selling federally legal hemp products.

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Tia : What are you doing to help reduce the stigmatization of cannabis?

Adriane : Education and Advocacy are two of our founding principles. The hemp industry is its own worst nightmare sometimes – always focused on the next novelty product. What most seem to forget or lose sight of is that the best way to remove the cannabis stigma is to provide quality products where the results are irrefutable. When products hit the market that don’t have the CBD content advertised, or the industry is focused on the next shiny object before any real work has been done, it delegitimizes all the work that companies like us have put in since hemp’s legalization. This is particularly important in a state that is still trying to create a medical cannabis program like ours.

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Tia : What are your social initiatives? Do you work with charity organizations, or do social work, etc.?

Adriane : We spend a lot of time advocating for local farmers and small businesses. We donate to a variety of local organizations in order to bring awareness to conditions and/or symptoms that CBD has been studied and proven to help with.

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You can follow BHO at:

Facebook

Instagram

Thank you so much, BHO team, for taking the time to do the interview. To learn more about them, head on over to their website.