Copperstate Farms has received authority to operate and progression toward such is underway as the site is prepared for the initial planting. The company has invested around $6 million, not including the cost of purchase, in revamping and constructing extensive security features for the facility alone.
Permitting delays of about eight weeks combined with port-side delays of specialized greenhouse materials in shipping containers from out of the country have led to some setbacks in the pace of construction, and consequently, the hiring of additional employees.
Although these delays leave the opening date somewhat unpredictable, the company hopes to begin planting in the greenhouse by mid-March.
“Marijuana is currently the fastest growing horticulture opportunity in the country,” noted Copperstate Farms General Manager Lee Heyl, who spoke at the Jan. 12 Real AZ Development Council meeting. “We have some real differences in the way we want to run the business.”
Like many of the owners, Heyl’s previous agriculture experience in greenhouse growing was geared toward other crops and this venture is a first step into the medical marijuana business. Compounded with that challenge is a lack of scientific research on marijuana in the United States due to federal scheduling of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which by definition means that it is considered to have a high potential for abuse and has no accepted medical treatment use. Because of this, the company partnered with more experienced growers out of Canada and is utilizing expert greenhouse designers from Denmark, countries with a longer history of marijuana cultivation and research.
At the same time, Heyl said, the company has a “target to get as much money into the local economy” as possible, and has been using local laborers, material suppliers and contractors to complete as much of the site preparations as possible.
“What we’re attempting to do is grow on a much larger scale than has been done before,” stated Heyl, noting that once it is operating at full capacity, it will be the biggest indoor marijuana growing facility in the country to date.
According to Assistant Navajo County Manager for Economic Development Paul Watson, the company remains dedicated to “making sure this becomes an asset to the community…making sure they do it right.”
Currently the company has about 38 employees working full-time, many performing manual labor with shovels and pickaxes within the greenhouse as they dig trenches to reroute water lines within an eight-acre section of greenhouses that will house the growing plants within the 44-acre complex. Plans are for these employees to transition into other jobs within the facility once the overhauls are completed.
According to Heyl, the fastest growing markets for the product are in manufacturing oils, which contain cannabinoids extracted from the buds of the plant and making edibles from the oils. After the initial planting, the company can expect to harvest a new crop every eight to 10 weeks. Harvested buds must be dried and cured, making the first crop ready for wholesale as is, or for processing into oils and edibles at approximately 16 weeks. Full employment at the company, anticipated to be around 100 to 120 employees, is expected to be reached once these harvesting and processing jobs are added.
