Amid financing challenges, Kentucky hemp grower lands $30 million bank loan

A Kentucky hemp producer has secured a sizable loan to help grow its business in 2020.

AgTech Scientific, a privately held hemp and CBD company in Paris, Kentucky, said it has closed a $30 million business loan with Truist Financial, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank holding company formerly known as BB&T.

“We are honored to serve the agricultural community and its expansion into producing hemp,” said Craig Carlson, Truist Financial’s middle market banking leader for Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

Art VanWingerden, president of AgTech Scientific, said Truist Financial has been following the company’s progress over the past six months as it merged with ColorPoint, a 2-million-square-foot greenhouse operation that formerly produced ornamental crops.

“To date, traditional banks have been tepid on providing services to the burgeoning hemp industry,” VanWingerden said in a statement.

So the loan is “a testament to everyone’s commitment to our mission of bringing hemp-derived consumer products to the mainstream.”

Financing from Truist Financial will be used for debt consolidation and expanding production environments, according to VanWingerden.

AgTech Scientific recently finished building a 50,000-square-foot extraction and manufacturing facility.

The company plans to supply CBD products manufactured from its greenhouses and outdoor fields and will pursue Good Manufacturing Practice and certification from a prominent international standards-setting body.