A third hemp processor has set its sights on the Binghamton area in New York’s Southern Tier.
The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports that Great Eastern Hemp plans to reconfigure a former sheltered workshop in Johnson City to produce CBD, or cannabidiol, from industrial hemp. The ingredient is widely used in health, beauty and wellness products.
The company bought the vacant building for $2.2 million and plans to start processing later this year.
Canadian company Canopy Growth broke ground on a $150 million hemp processing plant in Broome County in July. It’s converting a former Shop-Vac plant into a CBD production facility that will use hemp from 2,000 acres of Southern Tier farms.
Another venture, Southern Tier Hemp, had planned to set up shop in a former Gannett newspaper printing plant in Johnson City in time for last fall’s hemp harvest but ran into deed restrictions that have delayed the project.
Industrial hemp is related to the marijuana plant but lacks THC, the ingredient that causes marijuana’s high. Elected officials see hemp as a potential game-changer for upstate New York’s agricultural and manufacturing economies.