Небраский фермер вернул себе высокотехнологичный завод по переработке конопли после скандала с мошенничеством

CULBERTSON, Neb. — Just a few miles northwest of Culbertson sits a quiet, unassuming manufacturing facility. Well, that’s what it looks like from the outside. On the inside, machines are whirring, employees are bustling and three men are carefully hashing out improvement plans or new uses for the hemp they are processing. Lifelong farmers Brian and Donette Schafer own BDSI LLC, an industrial hemp processing business, producing fiber, hurd and grain to be used for industrial and consumer products. But one thing is different about this manufacturing plant. The Schafers, along with Systems and Innovation Manager John Lupien and Director of Sales Mike Battaglia, are focused on putting out a sustainable crop that will not only produce eco-friendly products, but will, in turn, actually help the farming ecosystem as well. Growing a crop of hemp uses around five inches of water per year, said Brian Schafer, who is also a farmer. This is considerably less than other crops, such as 20 inches for corn, which allows for more water to be used for other crops without exceeding water limits. “To go with a standard 12 inches per year, and we pump five inches on a hemp crop, that leaves seven extra inches. You can take that seven inches and put it over here on your corn crop and never go over your water allocation, and never get penalized.” Schafer added that the water is being left in the Ogallala Aquifer instead of depleting it. The aquifer, which supplies the irrigation water for the region, has been steadily depleted by decades of tending to high-water-use crops, and growing hemp will help alleviate that issue. He’s grown soybeans, corn and wheat his entire life, he said, and has never found a crop that used less water, less fertilizer and fewer chemicals while growing it year after year. Which also means lower input costs for farmers. It’s drought-resistant, hail-resistant and will outgrow nearly all weeds. Hemp doesn’t exhaust soil, so keeping another crop in your back pocket for rotation won’t cause an issue. This gives local producers a lower-input rotational crop with a guaranteed local buyer. “All the studies that we've done so far say it doesn't deplete your soils of anything. You can no-till your corn or beans back in behind it,” Schafer said. And better yet, he added, it’s causing a mystery yield bump. “We're seeing a yield bump behind the hemp acres, but I cannot explain why because I'm not seeing it in the soil in the samples.” In fact, hemp has been known to grow in just about any soil type, from sandy loam to gumbo to clay to blow sand. “We have farmed it in all of them, and have been successful in every source,” he said. Schafer said about four to six inches if stalk is left after harvest, which is after around 90 to 100 days of growing, so there is always residue on the field to catch snow and prevent wind erosion. As a hemp producer, a farmer never has to anxiously check the Board of Trade and monitor the market rates. There is market stability that comes with growing hemp because the price is fixed annually by the plant. “We set the price of it each year,” Schafer said. “Farmers bring the crop in and it goes across to certified scale, just like selling corn at an elevator. The contracts we have with farmers are similar to corn, wheat and soybeans. They have to be weed-free, or there's a discount schedule. If it's over 14% moisture, then they either get discounted or we reject them because we have to have dry bales coming in here.” Hemp is a no-waste crop and a renewable source. The entirety of the plant is utilized during the manufacturing process. The bast fiber, or outer bark, is used for non-woven mats, insulation-type products, geotextiles and erosion-control products. The small and large hurd, or woody inner core, is used for animal bedding, among other things. The smaller particles are pelletized to make a highly absorbent material for animal bedding. With at least half a dozen farmers growing the crop for BDSI, covering a span of around 10,000 acres, there will be a lot of bales moving through the plant. Because of the area’s climate, bales can sit for years in the elements without rotting or breaking down, which means the ability to have on hand a consistent hemp product ready for manufacture. Growing hemp also provides an economic benefit to the area by creating jobs. Currently, BDSI employs around 10 people, and as production ramps up, Schafer intends to hire on more and add a shift. So, that leaves in question the endgame in BDSI’s hemp production. At this moment in time, the company is producing animal bedding, as well as chicken nesting mats and soil erosion mats. And, the crew has come up with an innovative process to make hemp more versatile. Schafer and his team are creating prototypes for new plant equipment to perfect their production and have been coming up with new ways to improve and expand the use of their products. For example, still geared towards the environment, BDSI is currently working with the EPA to use the pellets for crude oil cleanups. BDSI is currently attempting to break into other production, Battaglia said, which will happen when they get the necessary equipment. An airlay needle loom have the ability to convert loose bast fiber into bonded, nonwoven mats that can be used to manufacture insulation and acoustic panels. In addition, the process of creating weed suppression and erosion control matting will be shorter and less costly. Hemp mats are meant to replace soil erosion mats that contain plastic netting, making them safer for the environment. These mats are weed-resistant and can also be used in gardens for weed barriers. “A lot of the erosion control mats now, they have plastic. Once the straw is going out, they don't have any real integrity. That plastic netting doesn't go away. It just doesn't biodegrade,” said Lupien. “This would actually biodegrade so you could use this for weeds.” An automated bagging system for the hurd would allow the plant to package the product at a higher volume to reduce bottlenecking. Companies that purchase the hemp products from BDSI LLC never have to worry about any CBD or THC contaminants. The varieties used in their production are industrial varieties, not recreational varieties, said Battaglia. It’s dust-free and hypoallergenic, Battaglia said, which is another selling factor when it comes to product quality. “I guess there are some insects that can eat it, but this could also be treated in a way that it would be,” Lupien said. “Actually, one of the projects we have going on with UNL is treatment to make this mold-, insect- and water-resistant.” Schafer grew his first crop in 2019, and those bales were trucked down to Slayton, Texas. Unfortunately, the facility burned down. After a year of regrouping, the company, Consolidated Carbon, asked Schafer if he would be interested in putting an industrial facility in southwest Nebraska. “I said at that time I would build a building and own the land and just be a landlord to them, and they came in and built the facility here,” Schaffer said. A $15 million USDA Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities grant was given to Consolidated Carbon to bring innovation to commodities. Later on, financial wrongdoing was discovered, with $11 million of that grant unaccounted for and $4 million not awarded. In February, Schafer took back the facility from the two people who were awarded the grant. He stripped the company of all but a few employees and began rebuilding with his team. “Brian took over … and now this is probably the highest-capacity facility in the United States,” said Lupien, adding that it also has the highest efficiency in the world. “We match throughput with companies that have put in over $100 million.” Schafer said he has received nothing but support since he began, due to the environmental benefits of his undertaking. Water and soil conservation are topics of concern for this area, and BDSI LLC is not just making sure their footprint is invisible, but they seem to be on track to reverse the impact of decades of usage.