HEMP SENSE INC.
GREEN ACRES Processing hemp right down to the final straw
BY PAT ST. GERMAIN
A new processing plant in Gilbert Plains is spinning hemp straw into … well, not exactly gold, but a close approximation. Kitty litter, fibril soil enricher and an absorbent flour for cleaning up liquids are among the innovative products Hemp Sense Inc. plans to produce from hemp straw that would normally be burned in the fields. Company president Lyall Bates says the environmentally friendly 30,000-square-foot plant fired up production with a tried-and-true food product, hemp seeds, in part
to give farmers a single market for the entire hemp plant. “All the other products, this is the first time it’s been done,” he says. “Right now, farmers take the seed and they’ve got a market for the seed and then the straw, they just burn it because there’s no market for it. “Now he’s got a market for the seed locally and he can turn around and sell the straw. Even if you turn around and get $30, $40 an acre return clear on your straw, that’s just another income.” Hemp Sense has custom balers to harvest plants in
december 2017
26
Powered by FlippingBook