Southern California will soon be home to Mojave Desert-based organic hemp production through a newly created joint venture between natural resources company Cadiz Inc. and cannabis cultivator Glass House Farms. Scott Slater, president and CEO of Cadiz told Cheddar Tuesday the company is "bullish on the long-term prospects for organic, California-based CBD and hemp."
The two companies are creating SoCal Hemp, which will grow the industrial hemp in the desert, a location Slater said is beneficial as there are "not a lot of bugs in the desert," more hours of sunlight throughout the year, and "organic and pristine" soil.
"Our intention is to control our distribution chain so that we would raise hemp, process our CBD and then use it in forward retail distribution," Slater said of the new partnership.
With SoCal Hemp now entering its commercial phase after two test phases, it is expecting to cultivate 200 acres in the spring and 1,000 acres by the end of 2020.
"We do not expect to, or want to, compete with the super-large players who are going to be doing tens of thousands of acres of industrial hemp," he said. "Our intention would be to split up what we have, to maximize our value in the CBD space for our own products and distribution, and then to have arrangements with forward-thinking companies that are interested in substituting hemp for cotton fiber," Slater said.
SoCal Hemp intends to use some of the crops as a potential substitute for cotton and some for CBD, Slater said.
"There is a strong belief that the use of hemp from farm to fiber can be an important substitute for things like cotton," he said, noting that the cultivation of hemp uses a relatively low amount of water when compared to crops like hay.
"Ours is really a niche. We want to be associated with organic, sun-raised, California hemp," Slater said.
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Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
