Simpson County’s first hemp facility is scheduled to break ground this summer.
BY JODI CAMP JCAMP@FRANKLINFAVORITE.COM | May 9, 2019
According to Tony Notargiacomo, president and co-founder of XYZ CBD Facility and XYZ CBD Farms, Scott Murphy, Daniel, a construction business based out of Bowling Green, is working on the designing and engineering of the buildings to bring his envision to reality. Three buildings are planned along with several large green houses for cloning operations on the land.
Notargiacomo said there were a few details he needed to work through prior to acquiring the land such as re-zoning and re-planning the area to build the facility. Notargiacomo said he officially acquired the land in October 2018 and is hoping to break ground in the next few months.
“The goal is to have a completed facility an operational facility so we will be hiring this year,” he said. “We will be moving some dirt around in June and actually going having equipment out here in July.”
The initial phase begins with 25,000 to 35,000 square-feet with the ability to process up to 500 acres of hemp.
“We will be able to expand the building as we grow the company,” Notargiacomo said. “As we increase the amount of land by contracting and working with farmers to grow hemp, we will expand the entire facility.”
Notargiacomo’s idea is to contract with farmers to have them grow hemp for XYZ CBD using their standards and procedures. Their land will have about 100 acres of farmable land so they would contract the rest of the 400 acres they plan to process with local farmers.
“Really Kentucky was the leading force in why I should be coming here. It became more and more evident as I spent more time out here.”
“It doesn’t have to be one farmer or two farmers, it could be 20,” Notargiacomo said. “It is going to be based on quality.”
Notargiacomo said the land would be a place to grow high quality CBD, but also bring farmers in to learn and educate.
“I see us doing a lot of interaction with universities, them coming down here,” he said. “To really use this as a place to better how you grow hemp, maximize how you grow hemp, the research part of it and use it as a training facility for our partner farmers who will be growing hemp on their property.”
See HEMP/Page A7
Notargiacomo said the hemp would be processed to create a high-purified oil or isolate, which means isolating down to the single molecule, like CBD. It could be used in any product that has CBD as an ingredient like water, cosmetics and different medical applications.
Franklin-Simpson Industrial Authority Executive Director Denny Griffin said Notargiacomo contacted him in June 2018 about establishing the hemp facility in Simpson County.
According to Griffin, Notargiacomo applied for a grant to upgrade the water and sewer systems to bring them farther up the road to reach where the buildings will be built.
Griffin said Simpson County is a tobacco county but hemp mimics how tobacco is grown, so growing hemp will not be difficult for Kentucky famers to learn. Many of the small farms would grow tobacco to supplement their income since they didn’t need to grow a lot to make a profit.
“That was one of our interests in it, that it could replace tobacco and bring back some of the smaller farmers that had to get out of the business,” Griffin said.
Griffin also said hemp was not a huge industry, but it can bring diversity to the Simpson County and Franklin economy.
“I think there is going to be a dramatic growth in hemp particularly as they find more and more ways to use,” he said.
Griffin noted that the possible uses of hemp, including medically are exciting to see.
According to Notargiacomo, one of the reasons he started looking at Kentucky to build his processing facility was the Farm Bill in 2014 and in 2018, which legitimized hemp. Another reason he was drawn to the state was Kentucky’s ability to grow tobacco.
“One of the things that lead me to Kentucky was obviously that Senator McConnell was the spearhead of getting the 2018 Farm Bill passed,” Notargiacomo said. “Really Kentucky was the leading force in why I should be coming here. It became more and more evident as I spent more time out here.”
Congressman James Comer, U.S. representative for the 1st district of Kentucky said he shares excitement for processing facility.
“I am very excited about this new hemp processing facility in Simpson County and look forward to continue to work with the hemp industry in Washington in the future as the industry continues its rapid expansion,” Comer said. “To see companies infused with millions of dollars of capital making huge investments all over Kentucky and creating good paying jobs is very exciting, but the new opportunities it has created for our struggling farmers has been the most gratifying.”