Since hemp was federally legalized in 2018, there have been numerous stories of entrepreneurs venturing into the agricultural side of the industry and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these growers have tried to create hemp farms in the wild, but lost their crops in an epic battle against nature.
Growing hemp outdoors in Texas works well for those who grow it for fiber they plan to turn into clothing and hemp. Growing the plant for medicinal, tobacco and CBD products has proven to be a challenge.
Texas’ climate is the reason hemp growers have tried their hardest to move their business indoors, away from the unpredictable, extreme, stormy nonsense we call weather.
One of the first indoor hemp farms in North Texas is showing why its business model could become a Texas hemp industry standard in the near future.
Power BioFarms is a vertically integrated indoor hemp farm that houses 300 to 600 plants at a time, with plenty of room to expand. Its products are currently in 13 stores in North Texas, and consumers can also buy hemp through the company’s website and have it mailed anywhere in the country legally.
The operation is a beautiful place to visit for any cannabis enthusiast or even regular plant lover. As you walk through the various rooms of the building, you’ll find hemp plants in all stages of growth, from a 2-inch clone to a healthy 4- or 5-foot flowering plant that yields anywhere from one to two ounces of some . the best hemp flower available on the US market.
The farm is primarily run by a small team that includes Colt Power, CEO and co-founder, and Nick Williams, director of cultivation. The pair only recently hired extra hands to help tend to the hundreds of plants at the facility that require daily attention. Power and Williams connected and found their way into the hemp industry after meeting at a Fort Worth hydroponics store called Caged Tomato, which sells supplies and equipment for indoor hemp gardens.
At the time, Williams was working as a chef at one of Dallas’ top hotels, and Power had left the world of commercial real estate to pursue his dream of becoming a business owner. Power’s original business plan was to run an indoor vertical farm of vegetables and herbs, but he soon realized that he would need much more space to achieve this and that the profit margins would be minimal. He turned to hemp, a plant he had cared for since the day he learned of its healing properties.
Power is from Dallas and attended The Episcopal School of Dallas before earning his degree in Business from the University of Notre Dame. While at Notre Dame, he was a goalkeeper on the D1 men’s lacrosse team for his entire college career. He then returned to Dallas.
He learned about hemp when it was recommended to his mother, who had multiple sclerosis, and his father, a fellow athlete who has undergone 19 orthopedic surgeries.
“I just knew a lot of people around me who could probably benefit, and I started really getting into it and learning about it,” Power says.
When Power first got his license to grow hemp, he didn’t have a building yet and had to start with a room in his house, relying on some on-the-fly consultations with the owner at the hydroponic shop he frequented.
“I took the media room, took out all the furniture, put some umbrellas in there, and I think I had about 40 plants in there,” Power says. “Then I said to myself if we’re going to do this, this is not the way to do it.”
In the early months of 2021, Power was still trying to run his business on his own, with some help from his co-founder and wife Reagan Power, who works at a hospital and spent most of the past two years working abroad. schedule when COVID-19 was at its peak.
The owner of Caged Tomato realized Power was in over his head and introduced him to Williams. His hope was that Williams and Power could find a way to better operate and structure their farms together.
“The first time Nick came out to look at the plants he said, ‘Hey, I’m sorry to break it to you, but these flowers are hot garbage,'” Power says of Williams. “And the rest of the time he was pruning them, he planted and did all these things and I could see the way he worked with the plants and I knew he knew a lot about it. It’s really easy to make them grow and look strong, but it won’t to tell you that you are raising them well.”
Williams has a green thumb and can be considered a master grower at this stage of his career. Power says he was a big help in turning the facility into a nearly fully automated operation that harvests every two weeks. They still have to manually perform small tasks, such as retrieving plants as they grow or occasionally moving a bucket of water. Power BioFarms has become a rolling machine, increasing production as well as the variety of products it can produce from its in-house hemp farm.
The farm has an industrial rosin press that allows the producer to squeeze the pure hemp oil from its flower and use it for a wide range of food and snacks. Power and Williams constantly strive to use every part of the plant in their operation. And every part of the plant really has a use. One of their customers even buys the leaves of the hemp plant to add to her cold-pressed juices because the leaves are rich in cannabinoids and chlorophyll.
Power BioFarms is destined for growth on par with Texas’ ever-expanding hemp industry, though the company has had a few hiccups along the way. Power and Williams have accidentally flooded the entire building several times, entering the building in the morning and finding anything sitting in three feet of water. They once bought clones from a supplier who brought bugs into space and infested the farm to the point where they had to throw away a table full of clones. It was also the time when pollen from some of the plants accidentally ended up pollinating an entire room of about 330 plants. Being resourceful, they were still able to save and process the flower with seeds.
Recently, they had to put about 200 plants in one of the facility’s smaller rooms, which is now the kitchen, because the building’s electrical wiring had to be disconnected. The original electrical boxes were old and small and did not provide enough power, so they had to limit the operation to a single
room until the building can provide more energy.
“My favorite part is probably knowing that what we’re doing is actually helping people … It’s not like somebody’s just getting high, but it’s helping people who are actually finding relief from it.” – Nick Williams
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This task took several months because Oncor was backed up after the winter storm that swept through North Texas earlier in the year. Now the couple has more than enough power to run the farm and they have switched to an automated water system to eliminate the risk of potential flooding.
There are several subsections within the cannabis industry, including growers, extractors and distributors. But it takes a certain will to be a cultivator of any plant. You live on the farm almost all year round. If you take your eyes off the plant for 48 hours, whether it’s indoors or outdoors, you may return to a bug-infested mess or face other unexpected occurrences. Retailers or distributors mostly make sure the bags are tightly wrapped and in a cool place until they can sell them. And they are not confined to the farm for a long period of time. Power and Williams both say they love the plant and even farming.
“My favorite part is probably knowing that what we’re doing is actually helping people,” Williams says. “It’s not like somebody’s just stepping up, it’s helping people who are actually finding relief from it. For me, that’s more of a driving factor than anything else. If I can help people, that means more to me than just making money from the plant.”
Power and Williams say customers often tell them how their quality of life has improved because of their products.
“Someone had come out and done a tour and a woman brought her husband who had been in a car accident the year before and said he couldn’t sleep at all until he found our pre-rolls,” says Power. “And it was just our CBDs, not even anything injected. That’s fantastic.”
Power BioFarms are pioneers in the Texas hemp industry and plan to position themselves for the long term with a primary focus on serving Texans who no longer have to rely on out-of-state cannabis farms. Texas farms are also often overlooked because of the assumption that they lack the quality or education needed to produce a high-quality product. But there are some reputable farms, retailers and extractors operating in the Lone Star State and. like Power BioFarms, in North Texas.
Power and Williams want to invite guests to tour the farm. In most cases, it will be the first time that guest will see a cannabis farm and understand firsthand that the product they are consuming begins with the grower and the cultivation of the plant.
The Texas hemp industry is still in its infancy and growing into what it will one day become. Power BioFarms is on top of it all and works through the ups and downs as they come, busy growing a beautiful, smelling flower.
