A processor of hemp fiber expects to increase and diversify production at its new plant in Rexburg, Idaho.

“We fully anticipate expansion as we fully enter the market,” said Jamie Petty, vice president for industry and government relations for Illinois-based Whitefield Global Holdings.

Bast fiber lies between a hemp stalk’s outer epidermis and its woody core, called hurd.

Uses for hurd include animal bedding, absorbent products and some construction materials. Fiber’s uses range from construction materials and various composites to textiles. Hemp fiber also has potential in injection molding as a plastic.

Current revenue at the Rexburg plant, Whitefield Fiber Processing, “is primarily a result of the hurd,” which comprises 70-80% of the plant’s current processing stock, Petty said. “We are quickly approaching contracts that will also focus on the fiber, which will be at a much higher price point and add significant value.”

The plant on South Highway 191, which had a soft opening in early July, processes about 3 tons of hemp per hour and has four employees.

Staff headcount likely will increase to 20 to 30 over the next 12 to 18 months, Petty said. Operations, engineering, marketing and agronomy staff are expected to be needed as production increases.

“As we expand, we look forward to working more closely with the community and building relationships with and through employees,” she said.

Whitefield as of mid-September continued to process bales of fiber from the 2022 crop, Petty said. Processing of this year’s crop is expected to start in middle to late October.

Contracted farmers “continue to work with us in storing and receiving their bales. We can’t store them all at once,” she said.

A contract price was not released.

Pay is by the pound, said Brad Darrington, a Declo-area farmer who contracted with Whitefield for his 2023 hemp fiber crop, his first.

“It will pay better than alfalfa (hay), wheat and barley, and a little less than sugar beets and potatoes,” Darrington said, referring to his contract and growing area. “It all depends on yield.”

Whitefield plans to increase contracted hemp acres in Idaho to about 5,000 over the next two to three years, up from 1,200 this year, Petty said. Growers are paid to grow a specific number of acres that fits their crop rotations.

Hemp can follow a wide range of crops in rotation, “and we just felt Idaho was a natural fit,” she said.

A partner in the processing plant is Triston Sponseller, a Roberts-area hay grower who is believed to be the state’s biggest hemp grower.

“In meeting with Triston and other growers, we realized the benefit hemp would bring to Idaho growers as a rotation crop,” Petty said.

Idaho allows production of industrial hemp. Last year’s crop was the state’s first.

Petty, involved in the industry for 10 years, said one of several provisions she would like to see in a new federal farm bill is a much less restrictive process for approval of hemp as an animal feed.

“When that happens, Whitefield’s intention is to expand our footprint in Idaho to include grain production and processing,” she said.

The company was started in 2019.