Industrial hemp processor Carolina Botanicals is investing $3.46 million to open a new plant in Tabor City, NC that will employ 30 staff members, the Economic Partnership of North Carolina announced in a recent release. Once operational, the facility will process raw hemp from area farmers into products like CBD distillate and winterized oil. 

“It is heartening to know that our new business, while producing a product with all the health benefits of CBD, will also be providing needed economic stimulus to the downtown area of Tabor City,” the firm’s president, Earl Singleton Jr., said in a statement. “We look forward to becoming a part of the Tabor City and Columbus County business communities. My investors and I are very pleased that the state of North Carolina, Columbus County, and Tabor City have embraced our proposed business.”

Carolina Botanicals said its decision to open the new processing plant in Tabor City is linked to support it received from the state. The company was offered a $100,000 performance-based grant from the One North Carolina Fund linked to its job creation and capital investment plans. 

“North Carolina is the third-largest state for farming, and hemp has become a popular crop since the state’s pilot program began in 2014,” said North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Anthony M. Copeland in the release. “We’re hopeful that Carolina Botanicals is one of the many new companies being created to produce hemp products that will realize our state is the perfect fit for their business.”

A report published by trade publication Hemp Industry Dailyfound that the number of acres planted with hemp in the U.S. increased from 25,713 in 2017 to 78,176 last year. North Carolina had 3184 acres of hemp planted during 2018. 

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