With the problem of what to do with hemp crops once they are harvested a pressing issue on the minds of many farmers this year, several big players are stepping up to do something about it. These three large figures in the North American Hemp industry are on a quest to open up this fledgling market.
Collective Growth is the name of the company they’ve formed to solve this issue, and the three Canadian-born founders managed to get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $150 million in an IPO on the NASDAQ market on March 17.
The raised funds will go towards building decortication and processing facilities in the US.
The men involved are Bruce Linton, Tim Saunders, and Geoff Whaling.
Bruce Linton is the founder and former CEO of Canopy Growth. Tim Saunders was Canopy Growth’s Executive Vice President and CFO. Canopy Growth was the first marijuana firm to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is currently the largest cannabis company in the world.
Geoff Whaling is chairman of the National Hemp Association. He was the first person to launch a Hemp Industrial park in the Southern Tier of New York State.
Whaling and Linton have been in the hemp arena since the beginning, being major players in helping the crop become legalized in 2018.
“We’re telling them that if they grow it, we will come to process it,” Whaling told the press. “It is an absolutely essential next step if we’re going to rekindle the hemp industry to reach the potential of being a great competitive commodity crop.”
“Unless we get the infrastructure in place, and do it on a commercial scale within the next 12 to 16 months, I’m afraid interest by farmers and end-users will start to wane,” Whaling said.
