PARIS, Ky. — Kentucky greenhouse operation ColorPoint LLC announced May 30 its merger with AgTech Scientific after deciding to become a hemp-only company. The conjoined companies will become a fully vertically integrated hemp operation.

The two businesses began working together in 2017. They collaborated on a beta test of indoor hemp growth in 2018, then partnered to produce outdoor clones in 2019. The successful 2018 beta test resulted in a supply agreement between ColorPoint and AgTech, which included agricultural processing, clones and an indoor grow during summer season, according to ColorPoint.

After a successful courtship, the two companies shook on merging operations and dedicating ColorPoint’s entire 1.8 million-sq.-ft. greenhouse to the production of hemp.

“Today is a great day for the company, our employees and our families. The strength of our unique approach and partnership with local farmers, combined with our indoor grow capabilities and our vertical extraction integration, places ColorPoint and AgTech in position to take a leadership role in the emerging US hemp industry,” said Art VanWingerden, co-president of ColorPoint.

The greenhouse includes 1,837,847 sq. ft. of indoor growing space, with 145,182 sq. ft. allotted to production and shipping; an ebb and flood floor system and operable roof; an agricultural processing center with the capacity to dry, strip and mill more than 100,000 hemp plants daily; digital root-to-shelf tracking; year-round, 24/7 production; more than 100 tractor trailers, 113 full-time employees and more than 340 employees during peak season.

Surrounding facilities also provide outdoor farming capabilities, extraction and manufacturing.

ColorPoint broke ground on a 50,000-sq.-ft. extraction and manufacturing facility in October 2018 in Bourbon County, Kentucky. The facility stretches 10 acres and is located about 15 minutes from the greenhouse complex.

The extraction facility is funded partially by community, state and local grants. It is projected to be operational in August 2019.

“The announcement today is the big next step for the hemp industry,” added Jessica Scott, AgTech’s director of communications. “AgTech and ColorPoint are committed to their people, appreciated by everyone, especially farmers. I have been in the industry for numerous years and I am more excited about the future today than ever before.”

AgTech Scientific was established in 2015 as a pet food research project with an emphasis on dosage and delivery of CBD to pets and equine. It went on to vertically integrate, eventually building its own 50,000-sq.-ft. factory with Gray Construction in 2019, including laboratories, extraction, distillation, isolation, formulation and product manufacturing capabilities to replace its previous facility.

Pet and equine CBD products, ranging from treats, edibles and beverages to topical lotions, capsules, and tinctures, are expected to begin human trials in 2019 and be on the market by 2020. 

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