В Небраске открылся первый завод по переработке промышленного конопли

Nebraska’s first industrial hemp processing plant takes root in Culbertson CULBERTSON, Neb. (KOLN) - A hemp processing plant north of Culbertson is the only facility of its kind in Nebraska, built by farmer Brian Schafer and his team after he started planting hemp in 2019. “We are facing one of the worst droughts I’ve seen. I’ve farmed for 26 years, 27 years now, and we are pushing around just over four to five inches since January 1st,” Schafer said. From bull semen to farming Schafer grew up in Culbertson and earned an animal science degree from Fort Hays State University, where he met his wife, Donnetta. In 1998, the couple moved to Culbertson to farm alongside his brother, Clint Schafer. In 2000, they purchased Nebraska Bull Service, a custom bull semen collection facility. As their farm grew, they decided to sell the business and focus on farming. “We loved the bull business. We had over 500 active customers, but we needed to slow down in life, and that was the easier thing to stop on and just go farm instead,” Schafer said. From soybeans to hemp Schafer traditionally grew corn, wheat and soybeans. “Years ago, soybeans started getting to be tough. And we’ve raised soybeans my whole life. And we needed to find something that can make money,” Schafer said. Schafer had been looking at hemp as a potential solution since 2017 and started growing it in 2019. He visited with experts internationally to get up to speed on the crop. “On a normal year, we can grow [hemp] with five inches or less of water under irrigation. It’s taken the place of soybeans on our farm and several other farmers in the area,” Schafer said. This solution may also help prevent the depletion of the High Plains Aquifer, commonly called the Ogallala Aquifer. “If you go down to Texas where the Ogallala water aquifer is, they’re running out of water, and I don’t want that to happen for me. I don’t want it for my kids, the third generation, their generations to come,” Schafer said. In the area, the Middle Republican Natural Resources District enforces a multi-year allocation system that gives farmers 60 inches of water for every five years. Up to 12 inches can be banked and carried into the next period. Because hemp requires five inches of water to survive, farmers can use the water they save to supplement other crops. Building Nebraska’s industrial hemp plant Schafer initially hauled his hemp to Texas for processing. That Texas company later convinced him to build a hemp processing plant in Nebraska. Construction on the facility started about two and a half years ago. In February, Schafer bought the company through BDSI, which stands for Brian and Donnetta Schafer Investments LLC. The business is now called Nebraska Industrial Hemp Processing, employing about 10 people. “I wanted to do this to help all of Southwest Nebraska, Northwest Kansas, Northeast Colorado. Again, it’s all about the water and how we don’t want to deplete it,” Schafer said. John Lupien, the facility’s systems and innovation manager who designed the equipment, said the first Farm Bill in 2014 allowed for research to happen in the U.S. for the crop. That progressed into the passage of the Farm Bill in 2018, which allowed for full cultivation and processing. “Today, (industrial hemp) does not have so much of a negative connotation. I think that’s more in the past. It’s associated with sustainability and regenerative agriculture,” Lupien said. The Culbertson plant is the first time Lupien has been directly associated with farming hemp in Nebraska. Prior to that, he worked with hemp out of Canada starting in 2014 with the first facility he helped build. “Of the (industrial hemp processing plants in the U.S.) that are large like ours, there’s maybe four,” Lupien said. “What makes us unique in terms of our processing facility is that we’re 100% US manufactured and built in the US equipment.” Some of the processes and equipment were developed by the team themselves. Inside the plant The facility is currently processing close to 4,000 acres of hemp. Schafer said the plant could expand to process 10,000 acres, depending on future sales and production numbers. When the hemp is harvested and dried out, it takes on a woody scent. “We have a testing facility that we have to test every plant before we cut it down or every field. So they are tested, but what we’re growing, there’s no drug-related things here. Everything we do out of here and what we’re growing it for right now goes to animal bedding,” Schafer said. Michael Battaglia, the facility’s director of sales, said the hemp plant predominantly produces two main byproducts: an exterior fiber and a woody portion from the inside of the stalk. “And then once processed and dried properly, it’s more like a cotton type material,” Battaglia said. “This is like something that you could literally put in the wall of a home to act as your insulation or used on the ground in place of those plastic geotextile products you see built next to the highway.” The bark-like chips are turned into small and large hurd. The pellets repel insects and absorb water. “Hemp absorbs about four to five times its weight in liquid, where wood absorbs one and a half to two,” Battaglia said. Battaglia said they are hoping to expand into other materials that can replace “less eco-friendly products.” Battaglia grew up in the produce industry and worked in industrial agriculture with egg-laying chickens. “I just became so intrigued by what the potential of this plant was that I’m just trying to go where the highest capacity processing is,” Battaglia said. Seven farmers now use the facility Seven farmers within a 60-mile stretch now haul bales to Nebraska Industrial Hemp Processing. The processed hemp is shipped across the country to resellers. “This is all for farmers. So this, my hopes for this is to just keep growing this facility, grow more facilities, bring farmers on board so farmers can have a way of life - not wake up every morning and look at the markets to see if they’re red or green,” Schafer said. Click here to subscribe to our 10/11 NOW daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox. Copyright 2026 KOLN. All rights reserved.