Ballard County and regional officials celebrated a ribbon-cutting for a new industrial hemp processing facility on Saturday. Officials see the facility as an example of the nascent hemp industry’s potential to bring jobs and investment to the region.
Aerosource-H Co-Founder and Manager Deborah Pape said more than $2.5 million was invested to renovate the warehouse. Pape said the Kevil facility began shipping out Cannabidiol extract, also known as CBD, in mid-February.
“We’re already going to be starting an expansion project right away because we already can’t meet customer demand. And that will probably be happening over the next six months,” Pape said. “And we’ll probably need more people at that time, too.”
Pape said Aerosource-H has 36 full-time and part-time employees, but that number will likely grow with their expansion project to buy more CBD extract equipment and more warehouse space to store hemp.
Ryan Hall recently graduated from Ballard Memorial High School and works for the company. Hall started in a temporary position, bagging hemp. He was recently hired full-time to help run the processing equipment.
“This is, honestly, my dream job -- anything to do with organic chemistry,” Hall said. “Here I am in a booming industry that can go anywhere but down.”
Many regional officials see the potential for hemp to also provide a viable option for farmers struggling with low crop prices and farm income.
“I just talked to a farmer from another county who’s actually a supplier to this company, and he said if the [CBD] market holds the way it is, it’s going to replace row crops because of the profitability,” said Ballard County Judge-Executive Todd Cooper.
Aerosource-H isn’t the only hemp processing company in west Kentucky focusing on producing CBD extract. Lexington-based GenCanna is building a facility in Mayfield that could process up to 10,000 acres of hemp.
Murray State University Hutson School of Agriculture Dean Tony Brannon said the newly established Center for Agricultural Hemp could provide opportunities in training a workforce for companies like GenCanna and Aerosource-H.
“It’s the ultimate combination of industry, education, private sector all engaging together to elevate this industry,” Brannon said. “This is a crop that hasn’t been worked on, as far as research in 80 years. We want to combine all those partners in the Center for Agricultural Hemp.”
