Initially, the hemp space in the U.S. promised numerous opportunities for farmers without requiring them to navigate the regulatory hurdles of setting up a traditional adult-use or medical cannabis operation. However, this also led to market saturation, causing many operations to shut down and companies to go bankrupt. This was the fate of former hemp giant GenCanna Global in Kentucky. The company operated a hemp cultivation spanning 6,500 acres, with an outdoor cultivation and a greenhouse dedicated to growing hemp seedlings. When GenCanna Global filed for bankruptcy in 2020, the property, including the greenhouse, was put up for sale. Later on, the company was bought out for bankruptcy, and now it’s called GenCanna Acquisition Corp. However, for years, the old property sat unused, with no one taking it over.
That changed when Michael Adair, a former GenCanna employee, was contacted by a colleague who pointed out that the property was still for sale. “I never thought of being a farmer,” Michael says with a chuckle.
Reviving a hemp operation with strawberries
Having witnessed firsthand the challenges of the hemp market, Michael Adair and his business partners knew that repeating GenCanna’s model would be a recipe for disaster—history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes, as the saying goes. “My business partner and co-founder, Giles Shell, had experience producing hemp seedlings. After GenCanna shut down, he worked with strawberry plugs for a while. So, we thought, ‘Why don’t we offset hemp with strawberry plugs?'” In about two weeks, all the partners involved, Michael, Giles, Jonathan Goshorn, and Lisa Hastetter, put together a business plan, found investors, and launched Kentucky Farmed. “We’re focusing on strawberry plugs while also producing hemp seedlings when we’re not growing strawberries.”
The concept is straightforward and effective. “You can rotate these kinds of crops pretty easily,” Michael explains. “Hemp and strawberries complement each other. Right now, I have 30,000 strawberry plants growing, and we’re conducting R&D on some California strawberry varieties. In the spring, we’ll also start producing hanging baskets for people to grow their own strawberries. Once that’s done, we’ll switch to hemp seedlings for farmers.”
Michael believes the Kentucky Farmed model could benefit other farmers as well. “I know some hemp farmers are struggling with razor-thin margins. That’s why I hope they consider growing strawberries alongside hemp. When a hemp cycle is done, they can grow strawberries and then switch back to hemp. Strawberries offer a great opportunity for hemp farmers to diversify.”
The strawberry market itself has plenty of lucrative opportunities. “There are U-pick locations, sales to supermarkets—there’s just a lot happening in the berry market that can help offset the downtime when hemp isn’t growing.”
Before reaching this point, Kentucky Farmed had to restore a facility that had been abandoned for over four years. “The property needed a lot of work, to put it mildly,” Michael says. “The irrigation pipes were damaged and had to be replaced, which took quite a bit of time. For example, when we turned on the water, it wasn’t flowing properly because of leaks. We had to trace the source of the problem and figure out why water wasn’t reaching the hill. That was definitely the biggest challenge.
Fixing an old greenhouse
“On top of that, the greenhouse wasn’t winterized, and the motor to open the roof was broken. In the summer, it gets extremely hot here, and the plastic had warped and melted.” Michael and his team rolled up their sleeves, fixing and cleaning the property. The greenhouse, however, had already concrete floors and metal tables installed for growing plugs, a solution that has helped them manage potential diseases and pathogens. “There was a significant disease outbreak this past year that affected many strawberry plug growers because they grow outdoors. We got lucky, but the fact that we grow on metal tables also helped prevent contamination. On top of that, we’re fortunate that we can rotate to other greenhouses if necessary and then disinfect the ones that might have been at risk.”
As Kentucky Farmed continues to grow and produce more plugs and hemp seedlings, Michael and his team are already planning how to scale up their operation. “We’re discussing producing our own hemp seeds,” he says. The goal is to diversify their operations, targeting different segments of the value chain by growing various crops for different purposes.
The food cultivation side won’t stop at strawberries; they’re already exploring new crops like peppers. On the cannabis side, it may not always be about hemp. “As the medical cannabis market expands in the state, we’re looking to get more involved—either by obtaining a license ourselves or by leasing part of our greenhouse to a licensed producer.”
For more information:
Kentucky Farmed
1895 Clintonville Rd., Paris, KY 40361
[email protected]
kyfarmed.com
Initially, the hemp space in the U.S. promised numerous opportunities for farmers without requiring them to navigate the regulatory hurdles of setting up a traditional adult-use or medical… Read More
