Hemp seed, pictured here, will be processed at the new Hempco Food and Fiber Inc. facility. Image courtesy Flickr user brian_tomlinson
Canadian firm Hempco Food and Fiber Inc. began installation of processing equipment for hemp seed food, hemp-based nutraceuticals, and hemp fiber at its new processing plant in Nisku, AB, the company announced by press release Monday.
Local officials approved the firm’s development permit, allowing Hempco to move the plant toward becoming operational. The company entered a lease to purchase agreement for the 5-acre site in late 2016, erecting a new 56,000-sq-ft facility there.
Based on projections of operations at 20hr/day, 220 days/yr, the plant will have a hemp seed processing capacity of up to 5000 tn/yr, stored in 20,000 sq ft of warehousing space. The company said the sales value of its annual seed capacity is CAD$90 million annually.
Hempco said the fiber processing capacity of the facility comes in at 20,000 tn/yr and up to 2000 tn/yr of industrial hemp leaf and flower chaff. The site also includes a 4000 sq ft clean room area for packaging and blending protein powders, food bars, and hemp burgers.
"It's the perfect location and facility for fulfilling our mandate of "whole crop utilization." We still have a lot of work to do, and more money to spend to get it running the way we want, and we will need to hire many more good people," said Hempco Chief Executive Officer Charles Holmes in a statement. "The Alberta government has been very supportive. Edmonton is a fantastic resource center for parts, services and skilled labour. Edmonton is also the heart of Canada's longest and sunniest growing hours and some of the best soil with lowest risk from flooding land area for growing industrial hemp. Logistically we couldn't be in a better place. Hempco® has already begun implementing BRC ‘AA’ level safety and quality control measures and software systems that will raise the ‘hemp industry bar’ to produce the highest quality products with the greatest efficiency in a state of the art – "pharmaceutical grade" facility for: hemp food processing, hemp fiber processing and hemp nutraceutical low THC CBD processing."
No comments:
Post a Comment