Panda Biotech flipped the switch on its 500,000 square foot Panda Hemp Gin facility in Wichita Falls, Texas last week.
Panda Biotech LLC is a first-mover in the emerging United States industrial hemp fiber and hurd industry. With the ability to process 22,000 lbs. of hemp fiber per hour, the Panda Hemp Gin is the largest industrial hemp processing facility in the Western Hemisphere and second largest in the world.
The facility has hit several road bumps since its announcement in 2019. The Dallas-based company first expected the facility to begin operations in the first quarter of 2021 and be fully up and running by the first quarter of 2022. Construction was completed in December 2023.
The Panda Hemp Gin’s engineering and production processes have been certified green by Mid-South Engineering Company and the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles, for exclusively using renewable energy sources.
The company celebrated the grand opening of the facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 12. Dixie Carter, Panda Biotech president, opened the event highlighting chairman and CEO Robert W. Carter’s vision to build a large-scale processing facility in the U.S. for domestic industrial hemp decortication.
Guests included Sasson founder Paul Guez and city officials as well senior executives from textile spinning mills, textile importers and exporters; regional agriculture leaders and producers; and members of the Southern Ute Tribal Council. In 2023, Panda Biotech announced a landmark equity partnership between the Panda High Plains Hemp Gin (PHPHG) and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund, which is owned by the federally recognized Native American tribe.
The Oritain partner is currently signing contracts with hemp producers to grow feedstock for the 2024 season as well as buying hemp fiber that’s already been harvested and processed. The company also launched an “unmatched” pay-to-grow platform for producers to start growing Panda hemp. Those producers also received tested-and-proven seed at no cost.
