Construction at the Genesis Farms medical cannabis campus in Box Elder is in full swing, with their first grow about four to five weeks from harvest.
The 7.5 acre campus, located off Interstate 90 near exit 61, already had a 20,000-square-foot shell on the property when Genesis Farms moved in, with construction currently underway to transform into a cultivation site.
Directly perpendicular to it will be another 20,000-square-foot building that will serve as the operation’s processing site, with the cannabis farm on the other side.
Run independently of the cultivation and processing sites, the farm currently has 800 plants, with two greenhouses up. Plagued by supply chain issues, a third greenhouse is delayed, with more planned down the road.
About 100 plants lined the edge of the farm Friday afternoon, waiting on the third greenhouse. Currently in the flowering stage, Genesis Farms COO Emmett Reistroffer explained the plants grow faster and bigger outdoors, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
People are also reading…
The benefits of growing the plants inside a greenhouse allows the grower to control the environment. The two functioning greenhouses have controlled air flow and a roof covering that can blanket the greenhouse in darkness at the push of a button. During the winter, the greenhouses will also have a heating system, with the intent to be a four-seasons operation.
“A lot of science, a lot of engineering, a lot of passion,” Reistroffer said.
From seed to seedling to plant, they’ll be tagged for tracking by the state — a requirement of all growers in South Dakota. Once harvested, Reistroffer said the cultivation and processing takes about a month before the product is ready to sell.
Construction on the cultivation site is expected to wrap up in October, with construction on the 20,000-foot processing facility set to break ground soon.
The cultivation facility includes a clone room, locker rooms for staff, a break room, four flower rooms, a warehouse and a drying room. The processing facility will include processing rooms and an edibles kitchen and extraction lab, as well as a closed loop butane extraction system to pull out THC oil, and a distillation system to further refine it.
Reistroffer said the entire facility is based on best practices and the best systems available, including LED lighting throughout the building, peer-reviewed for energy efficiency.
There will also be two 5,000-gallon tanks with pre-mixed nutrient solutions. A computerized system will mix the nutrients to be pumped into the water and then pumped throughout the building through irrigation lines. Emitters will drop the precise amount of nutrients and water that each plant needs.
“It doesn’t get any more perfect than that,” he said. “We’re striving to control every aspect of the environment and the plant growth.”
Genesis Farms does plan to operate while under construction, as they plan around delays and supply chain issues.
“We’re operating under construction because we want to get to market, get patients their medicine,” Reistroffer said.
The campus will not only supply the company’s 14 dispensaries throughout South Dakota, but hopes to become the number one wholesale cannabis supplier in the state.
Whether or not that can happen may hinge on November, and the direction voters take the decision to legalize recreational marijuana.
If recreational is approved, scalability will come into play, Reistroffer said–which they have.
“If its rec, we’re going full force ahead,” he said, “because I believe its a half a billion dollar market.”
In the meantime, Reistroffer is focused on getting South Dakota’s medical marijuana patients their product as soon as possible. Of the 14 dispensaries, two sites will be located in Rapid City, with the Box Elder location site still being considered.
Reistroffer estimated the company’s Yankton dispensary will likely be the first to open. He hopes to have all opened by the end of the year or early next year.
The delays Reistroffer has been experiencing have been felt by most growers across the state, he said. Operational timelines have been slashed by supply chain issues and contractor availability.
“Everybody’s behind and not going to hit that one year,” he said, referring to the state’s requirement that facilities be operational within a year. The state is providing extensions, he said, but everyone is in the same boat — 81 licensed dispensaries, 2,000 patients and barely any product.
A close-knit community, Reistroffer said South Dakota cannabis growers help each other out.
“Politically, we have to be united,” he said.
They share information, will sell each others’ product and work together on advocacy, he said, work that first inspired his involvement with cannabis 12 years ago.
As construction moves forward, his goal for the coming months is finishing construction and equipment installation.
“Once we get through that, it’s off to the races,” he said.
Reistroffer said advocacy and lobbying work will remain, as well as public education to combat misinformation and lingering prejudice. But for now, he just wants to get patients their medicine.
–Contact Laura Heckmann at [email protected]–
