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In Summary
Mary Landry of Specialty Tag & Label joins us on the HempList this week, hosted By Chase Nobles, Founder of Kush.com
Specialty Tag & Label has been operating for decades helping large agricultural companies organize, track, and manage their plants. Lately they’ve taken on the Hemp & Cannabis industry helping cannabis farms manage traceability, and even large hemp farms and processors who are trying to manage a hemp crop from Seed to Sale. Chase & Mary talk about how they entered the space and even get into the latest technology like their RFID tags that work with an app!
Subscribe for more interviews each week, also available on Spotify and podcast apps. Learn more and create your account now at Kush.com for B2B transactions or shop.kush.com for online orders.
Transcript (Auto-Generated)
hey everybody chase nobles here founder
of kush.com here with mary landry at
specialty tag and label super excited to
have you on the show mary how are you
thank you i’m doing good thank you very
much for having me
right on and so a lot of people
especially farmers have just planted
these massive fields
of hemp or or you know smaller fields of
recreational cannabis
and for the recreational cannabis side
there is mandatory tracking for him
there isn’t what do you do and how do
you recommend they
operate to be able to track and tag all
of their products because we’ve never
had somebody from the
the label industry on our podcast
well okay so it’s really up to what
their state requires
obviously for medical or even
recreational
uh it is required that they tag all
their plants
and be able to track them through oh
some states even require an rfid
so we have that option available we have
the software
and of course the printers that can
print on the text so that they can see
just be able to humanly read what strain
that is
maybe the date that it was printed or
plant it
so there’s a lot of information that can
be printed on the tag
and so that’s very helpful but we want
to keep everyone in within the
regulations so they can keep growing and
keep their licenses and keep providing
the medicine that these people need um
for hemp though it might be different
for every state it’s different they may
not need to tag every plant
but we do find a lot of growers are
growing different varieties different
streams
for um different
yields and different biomass so if they
want to identify
what they have there they can do that
through
tagging it or
you know through rfid if they want to
track
their uh well mary for anybody that for
anybody that doesn’t know
what is an rfid and how does it work um
because i would imagine there’s got to
be
not just the the tag and the label but
there’s also got to be a software
side of that as well what does that look
like and how do people actually use
rfids and
grow facilities okay so the rfid
stands for radio frequency
identification
and it is just a low frequency radio
signal that communicates with software
so
we’ve partnered with our brain
technologies and you should definitely
interview them
they have the software that we our tags
will communicate with
so you just scan it with your phone
[Music]
on the app it’s right there you can see
exactly what you have
what’s sold what you want to move
we have processors that are using it
when they bring in from the field
all the hemp and they want to know which
field
this hemp came from so they identify
it with the tag that has the radio
frequency
in the tag and they have it in the
software it goes all the way through
their process
and then they can make sure that the
the biomass so the seeds the stock
the keef the flower all those different
components
are now broken out into different bags
at the end of their process
but they can track it all the way back
to the farmer
and tell that specific farmer their
yield
their wet weight their dry weight all of
that information is right there and
reports for them and that is
really crucial for their next planting
season
right so anybody out there wanting to
run experiments it’s really important to
know
exactly what strain exactly what part of
the field that was in so
and you can pull all that information in
through you know these labels and these
barcodes or these qr codes or
you know whatever software they choose
to use right right right so we have
partnered like i said with arboritek and
all of that is through their software
our piece of this pie is the tag and
being able to print on it um
so in storage you can look at the bag
of flour and be able to identify both in
the software but just visually
which of that so-and-so’s flower
that we just sold to this processor
or to you know this extraction facility
or
whatever whoever they’re the next chain
in the link there or the next link in
the chain now for
hemp and especially in states that may
not require specific tagging of lots
i would imagine this would be very
helpful for
any kind of quality control issues right
god forbid you have you know pesticides
or heavy metals or things that can have
a negative impact on
you know the outcome to be able to track
that specifically to where it came
from not just the farm but potentially
even you know the
part of the field would be really
important i would imagine have you seen
any of that with your customers whether
there’s been
some kind of recall or quality control
where the tags have just saved them from
being able to
you know from doing it again or or
killing that lot or anything like that
we haven’t seen that with our specific
specific customers but i know that
recalls happen those um alerts
i get you know the news feed as well
that so in
this particular strain from this
particular
um place has you know mold
in it or whatever violation they have
and they can definitely track it all the
way back
because they’ve been able to identify
where it came from so
all of that is very crucial right right
and so when it comes to all the services
that you all provide
um every you know from the software
partnership to the printing and tag
do you all you know is it the tag that
you see around the pla the bottom of the
plant is it the stickers is it
everything
how do you you know if a farm comes to
you or a processor comes to you and
they’re looking for a solution
what what do you all offer and um you
know
what are kind of the steps to get up and
running with your tagging and
and uh tracking solution sure so
we i like to say pick your tag and then
pick your printer
so we do i actually have a few uh
samples here so if you wanted a pot tag
it sticks down in the dirt so i would
recommend this for a greenhouse grower
it’s very useful to just stick it down
in the dirt
any of these tags can put we can put an
rfid on them so
whether you’re just printing them or um
if you read it need it to be radio
frequent then we can do that too
so this is a pot tag or a slip-on tag
that slips through itself i would say
that that would be when it’s more of a
mature plant
um that kind of tag is for a limb
or a branch we also have different hang
tags i mean we’ve got
and of course yeah the stickers it’s all
weatherproof waterproof so you don’t
have to worry about
the print washing off when you water
your precious plants
and um it’s not going to fade in the sun
or under lights so all of that’s very
crucial and we want to start with what
type of tag you need
because then that determines which
printer
you get um we have some that
the range the price ranges are from 625
for the small desktop printer
all the way up to 44 hundred dollars
for the big guy um but then if you need
to do radio frequency if you need to do
rfid there’s going to be a little bit
more
um but of course then we’re really
getting into a huge investment
for all of the tracking that you’re
going to get with that
and that’s usually you know require
people that are using that the most
are where it’s required by the state i
would imagine because that is quite an
investment in
every tag for every plan now you haven’t
always been in the hemp and cannabis
industry
this is a fairly new venture what other
markets are you in and
uh you know how is the solution
developed over time that you provide
oh well it’s pretty much been the same
for 24 years
specially dying labels been in
horticulture we’ve provided
identification solutions for growers
garden centers
nurseries you know field growers
greenhouse growers you name it
garden centers of all sorts have used
our tags and labels so we just we know
what it takes to
make the tag last and the weather and
and for long periods of time for
research
um so yeah we’ve just it really hasn’t
changed over the years it’s a
it’s a tag that we can print on and the
software to design the text
pretty simple you can print qr codes
barcodes
text of course logos anything you really
want to put on the tag
you can print it and it’s going to look
great and of course it’s going to last
so yeah 24 years we’ve been in that
business
and it’s just a perfect fit to get into
hampton cannabis because it is at the
end of the day a plant
that you’re you’re identifying and we’ve
been doing that for years
right and how is that entry into the
hemp and cannabis industry
ben are you all targeting you know
medical states recreational states
hemp where are you all focused the most
for the solution that you provide
well i i guess i shouldn’t say we’re not
focused i mean we’re focused on
all of it we we want everyone to know
that they don’t have to hand
write their tags and when someone tells
me they’re handwriting their tags
i i want to shed a small tier because i
can imagine
how many hours that takes when you can
simply hit print
and in you know 10 minutes you’re ready
to go
do something else that everyone wants
you know you to get back to doing
something else or spend time with your
family whatever it would be
so that um handwriting is
just the thing that i don’t i want to
solve you know
i know that takes a lot of time but um
we
we definitely want to help the medical
cannabis industry the recreational and
hemp
all of those i just they the
industry may not know that we exist and
so that
that’s been the challenge we know um
we’re
we’re good at what we do and those of
our customers that
continue to use us know that but they’re
the perennial growers the annual growers
the tree growers they
know what we do and they know we do it
well and they continue to be our
loyal customers so we’re just not
um we’re here in georgia so we’re now
out west where
all of this began and so we’re just
trying to get the word out that we are
here and we’re here with solutions that
we know
work and um yeah you’re not going to be
a guinea pig in that regard so just
give us a try so being in georgia you
know kind of
the cultural differences i’m from
knoxville originally
um being in georgia was there any
hesitation entering this market was
you know were the founders and then the
executives were they just like
let’s go full bore into him and cannabis
what
what was the process there was was there
risk or concern that you all had or is
it purely ancillary not worried about
you know kind of the entry into the
space well we obviously
know that we are needed in the space
that we would be a valuable
solution for this space but yes there’s
the
the stigma that has always come with
this pro
this plant and so we did
strategize on how we can introduce
ourselves to this market
without
offending i guess if that’s the right
word our current customers
and so we did have those conversations
they were short
um and that regard is like you know what
it’s it’s a plant and we’re here with a
solution
and you know we found that a lot of our
greenhouse growers
went from growing their
flowers to a different kind of flower
so it you know it’s a smokeable flower
what now a smokeable flower exactly
so i mean it’s just one of those things
that they decided as well so it just
we all were tiptoeing at first but then
we realized
everyone knows what’s going on and
they know that this is a great plant for
many reasons
um so it just yeah like i said we sort
of tiptoed but now we’re out
in the wide open now being in georgia
what’s the medical marijuana
market look like is it up and running
how’s it going you know georgia
is uh uh you know has has very
conservative sides of it very liberal
sides of it but you know
cannabis being kind of across the
political scale widely accepted what’s
going on in georgia being right there in
the heart of it
so we did pass medical marijuana
or cannabis a few years ago but
no one has been allowed to grow it here
so that was sort of been the conundrum
the
wait we can have it but we can’t grow it
so now we’re kind of getting into well
now we can grow it
and we’re figuring out how we’re going
to identify it
so we’re certainly trying to get those
meetings
with the people that make those
decisions and
hopefully they can open up the state to
preferred vendors or approved vendors
i know a lot of states have there’s only
one particular vendor for
software so that’s been a struggle for
those states
but um i you know we’re not asking
to be the only supplier we just want to
be one of the suppliers
and because we know we have the
experience that we can win the customer
right and has that been a challenge you
know state
by state regulations they all have their
own different regulations and a lot of
times the
the company or the software company that
wins the track and trace solution
um aims to provide a lot more services
and kind of um i
well i guess for lack of better terms
kind of push the other vendors
aside because they have that state
contract has that been a challenge for
you all to get into the market
um kind of these state contracts and
these uh these people that already have
a significant market share in particular
markets
it kind of has because you know they
can’t by law
purchase from someone else which is very
unfortunate
but i read an article and i do believe
it was oklahoma
that is suing for that monopoly and so
you know that’s very hopeful because if
they can win or
in that lawsuit then that will
definitely open it up for the other
states that also have a monopoly
and let them compete you know uh
if they have the better product and the
customers
the growers and everybody wants them
then they’ll
they’ll win in the end of the day but
unfortunately they’ve mandated that
they’re the only ones
and that’s that’s just not the american
way i don’t think
no i don’t either you know when there’s
a monopoly and as we have seen
prices for the most you know mundane
products that shouldn’t cost very much
such as a tag
right like skyrocket and that’s
that’s kind of what you set yourself up
for now to get a plant
all the way from you know seedling and
the pot tags and
the the band tags they wrap around the
limbs
to get a plant all the way to full
maturity
what are what are you looking to spend
per plant with your solution
as far as printing and labeling goes
let’s let’s say it’s for a small to
medium-sized grow
so again the the tax are anywhere from
two to three cents each just depending
on the size um
and color that you get the the smallest
printer we’ve got is the 625 so that’ll
get you started with software and a
ribbon
to print on the tags and then see how
the tags are two three cents each
so once you have once you have the yeah
once you have once you have the printer
yeah um you shouldn’t be spending more
than five cents it sounds like on tags
isn’t that right right right and not
with rfid that’s just to identify them
you can print a barcode or qr code
though
which seems to be okay with most markets
i haven’t seen a ton of markers with the
rfid requirement
so if you’re spending more than five
cents per tag
you need to check out specialty tag and
label
because you all are doing it for two
cents once you get the printer so
thank you so much for sharing all this
information with all the farmers out
there and all the processors out there
we’re excited to have you as a part of
the the kush network and be a part of
the team so thank you so much we’re
excited to
to get this out there in front of as
many farms as we can to help them save
some money
yeah and i look forward to meeting a ton
of people at the texas
hemp convention in november yeah i’m
really excited to be there
well did you get your booth picked out i
did i don’t know right
number but i’m there all right specialty
tag and
label will be at texas hemp convention
super excited to see at the show we’ll
get together
we’ll have a good time thank you so much
for being a part of the show mary it was
great to meet you
thank you very much