East Idaho News
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Take a look inside the new hemp production plant in eastern Idaho
Posted
August 24, 2023
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August 24, 2023
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3:57Now Playing#eastidahonews #industrialhemp #harvestinghemp
THORNTON - An industrial plant that processes locally-grown hemp recently opened in Thornton.
Whitefield Global Holdings opened last fall at 4861 South Highway 191 in the old warehouse where the Rexburg Mobile Food Pantry used to be. It began installing equipment about eight months ago and is ready to begin production in the next several weeks.
John Read, the company's founder and CEO, tells EastIdahoNews.com the hemp that's processed on-site is used to make industrial plastics, herd and cottonized fiber. The herd product is mostly animal bedding. Fiber is used to make construction materials, like tongue-and-grove flooring, interior door panels on vehicles, insulation and many other products.
Some of it is used to make clothing and protein supplements for human consumption.
Animal bedding makes up 80% of the plant's production, Read says. It resembles wood chips and there are multiple benefits from using it.
"You'll typically get two to three times the lifespan out of it," says Read. "What's really unique about it is the absorption. It absorbs (animal waste) and releases the odor so you don't get that stink in your barn."
Local farmers have an agreement with Whitefield Global Holdings to produce hemp. Once it's harvested, it's brought to the plant in a large bale for processing. It's broken down, separated and cleaned. The fiber is again repackaged into bale form and the herd into bags before it's put on a truck and shipped to distributors.
It's a four to five step process and the plant has the capacity to process up to 30 tons of material daily, according to Whitefield's Chief Innovation Officer John Lupien. Take a tour and see how it works in the video above.
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