Beyond the Farm

Tour Of Drying Facility

Bags of dried hemp product ready to return to grower/ownerThe tour of Patriot Hemp ServicesĀ facility showed a company that is in the middle of their first year on this site. There are areas of the plant that are still waiting for equipment and there are producers that are out there still trying to find the right way to harvest their crops to deliver to thisĀ  drying and storage facility. Many aspects of the business are in flux with new rules, and laws popping up without notice.

moving ramp thatpulls product into large dryerThe site would be in limbo waiting for equipment except for the producers that call, desperate to get their harvest dried before it molds. Emergency calls are handled as quickly as possible and many times, the plant can shift priorities to get a load in the door and drying in the course of a couple hours. Spontaneous combustion along with spoilage are real issues in this game of many, many unknowns and the longer the plant matter has time to heat, the greater the possibility of poor quality or fire.

The dryers are large, bigger than a semi truck big and they use a wide conveyor belt to slowly move the product through the unit several times before it has dried to the proper moisture content. At this time in the facility, many of the loads have to be scooped manually from the truck that is bringing the product in onto the conveyor. It is all hands on deck when the shovels need to be scooping the conveyor full as it moves the product into the drying machine. There is no time to break until the load has been completely emptied from the delivery truck.

Dried flower of hemp plant
Hand harvested hemp flowering material

This facility is only the dryer for the product, the product itself is the responsibility and the property of the owner/grower. Harvesting in the field is a new prospect for many growers. Some hand harvest with clippers onto to glean the flowering buds.

dried flower and plant material
Whole plants that have been dried

Others use corn pickers or combines to cut the full sized plants off just above the ground level and yet others pull the plants out of the ground to dry the entire plant and roots. The end results are striking when viewing the dried bags of product.

bag with dried plant, stem and roots
This is what whole plants along with the stems and roots look like after drying

From this facility the grower/owners will be taking the dried product with some going to be processed further for fiber, oils and extracts.

For this year, the facility is just trying to keep up with demand. With more dryers, better air scrubbers and finished duct work, growers on scheduled harvests and enough workers to see that everything runs smoothly, this warehouse will look differently a year from now.

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