The Hemp Mine Blog

Red Imported Fire Ants Ravage South Carolina Hemp Crop A pest population explosion caused ‘mind-blowing’ damage to Dr. Allison Justice’s hemp plants this year. Here’s how she stopped them and is getting her crop to harvest. David Silverberg September 23, 2025 If there’s any problematic pest Allison Justice, Ph.D., truly despises, it’s the red imported fire ant (solenopsis invicta). These ants have been the bane of the growing season for the founder and CEO of the Cannabis Research Coalition, which conducts horticultural research, and The Hemp Mine, a hemp CBD business. On her half-acre plot of outdoor hemp plants near...

Founder of The Hemp Mine and The Cannabis Research Center and Coalition, Dr. Allison Justice, PhD, sits down with the BIOS team to discuss the challenges of commercial horticulture and her mission to create a library of cannabis research for farmers everywhere. Long before Dr. Allison Justice was a scientist, she was a farmer. Daughter of an ornamental farmer and a granddaughter of cotton farmers, Allison did not fall far from the family tree. Since graduating from Clemson University with a PhD in Plant and Environmental Science in 2014, she has, among a long list of accomplishments, conducted groundbreaking research...

Smoking remains the most common method of cannabis consumption, particularly for patients seeking rapid relief. Despite this, little is known about what defines a high-quality smokable product. This study investigated how varying water activity levels (0.45 aW, 0.65 aW, 0.85 aW) affect cannabis flower’s chemistry and perceived smoke quality. Chemical analyses showed that 0.65 aW yielded the highest terpene content and comparable cannabinoid delivery to 0.45 aW, while 0.85 aW significantly reduced cannabinoid levels. Sensory panelists noted minimal differences between 0.45 and 0.65 aW samples, though harshness and ash color varied. Higher water activity increased moisture and product weight—suggesting economic...

In South Carolina, hemp cultivation began with promise for The Hemp Mine, especially in 2018 and 2019. However, regulatory shifts created significant hurdles. "That first year, we were excited to grow smokable flowers," Allison Justice, PhD, founder and CEO of The Hemp Mine, explains. "We had the SC Grown sticker, and things looked good. But months later, the Department of Agriculture issued a letter stating that anything unprocessed—like flowers—was illegal." The recall process hit farmers hard. "Law enforcement even got involved to remove flowers," she says. Meanwhile, stores filled their shelves with out-of-state products, leaving local growers in a bind....