Wichita Falls has been chosen to be the home of the largest and most state-of-the-art industrial hemp processing center in the United States.

Dallas-based Panda Biotech has contracted the former home of General Motors’ Delphi assembly plant on I-44. The 50,000 square foot facility and surrounding 97-acre campus will house the Panda Texas Plains Hemp Gin.

Panda Biotech’s Hemp Gin will be the first U.S. facility to cottonize hemp fiber for commercial use by American and international textile industries. The Hemp Gin is also most likely to be the only facility dedicated to both the processing and cottonization of hemp on an industrial scale outside of the People’s Republic of China.

The first processing line is currently being built and is expected to be delivered in December of 2020. The expectation is that the facility will be partially operational in the first quarter of 2021, with full operations commencing in the first quarter of 2022.

Wichita Falls edged out several unnamed cities in Panda Biotech’s search for the home of the Panda Texas Plains Hemp Gin.

Scott Evans, executive vice president of Panda Biotech had this to say in a press release:

After conducting a state-wide search of potential buildings, in addition to meeting with officials in various cities, we selected Wichita Falls as the perfect location for Panda Biotech’s flagship hemp processing center. The facility we’re moving into boasts 11 acres under roof and enough land to allow for expansion into strategic, new business endeavors that Panda is planning. In addition to the local agricultural community, city and county officials have been outstanding to work with and supportive of what they expect to be a global calling card for Wichita Falls as the hub of the next multi-billion-dollar industry.

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