Company Invests $400k in Kentucky Hemp Processing Facility

Genius Extraction Technologies, a California company that produces hemp and cannabis oil extraction equipment, announced plans Thursday to build a new $400,000 hemp processing facility in Kentucky, the Lexington [KY] Herald-Leader reported.

The facility will be located at the Atalo’s Hemp Research Campus in Winchester, KY, where early testing and setup has been underway since March. A chilled ethanol extraction system capable of processing 35 pounds of hemp per hour has been installed so far, the company’s chief executive officer Brenna Gaither told the Herald-Leader.

Genius plans to expand production first to 100 pounds per hour and eventually 20,000 pounds every hour.

The company expects to process 250,000 pounds of hemp for commercial uses in the fall of 2016, the paper reported.

Last year, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015 was introduced into the Senate, which would change the material’s designation as a controlled substance and permit farmers in the US to produce industrial hemp. 28 states, including Kentucky, currently have laws that involve industrial hemp production.