PAW PAW, Mich. — On 40 acres, five hours north of Kentuckiana, there is a farm in rural Michigan where its crop is grown on the other side of a high privacy fence.
By rule, the 6,100 plants, give or take, must be shielded from public view.
That's because Grasshopper Farms is growing cannabis.
"Just seems like yesterday that they were only like two foot tall, and now they're eight foot tall," Richard "Ricky" Lich, a cultivation foreman, said.
At that height, the plants were just about ready for the October harvest.
"We produced around 18 to 20,000 pounds here through the first three years," Will Bowden said. "We've learned that we have about 50,000 pounds of demand."
Bowden is the founder and CEO of Grasshopper Farms, and he's not the type of guy you would think would be a cannabis cultivator.
He's a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard and was a cop in Florida with the Collier County Sheriff's Office.
"The irony is not lost on anybody that now I'm standing in the middle of these trees," Bowden laughed.
In Michigan, the farm grows the more traditional way, out in the open and under the sun.
"We do add some nutrients, but majority of it is just water and sun," Lich said.
Caroline Rice, the farm's regulatory compliance director, said their way makes for a better product.
"Nothing can compete with Mother Nature," Rice said.
Outside of Michigan, Grasshopper Farms is also growing outdoors in Colorado and will soon be growing in New Jersey.
They want to eventually expand into a total of 10 states, including Kentucky.
However, under current rules, future cultivators in the Bluegrass must grow only cannabis for medicine and they can only do that indoors under artificial sunlight.
"Kentucky has a great climate for agriculture and cannabis farms this side is just that, it is agriculture," Rice pointed out.
Bowden and his partner in Kentucky decided not to submit an application yet in this first round of licenses.
"When it comes to Kentucky, I like the framework, I think that the early framework is not going to be the enduring framework, meaning, right now, they don't allow for smokeable flower, but that's going to change," he said.
Since the Medical Cannabis Program is so new in Kentucky, Bowden believed many things will change as people get more educated and more comfortable with the cannabis industry.
He said if and when they start out in Kentucky, it will likely be in a greenhouse grow setting until they will be allowed to transition outside.
"I am comfortable right now that we did not go into the first round in Kentucky, but I'm also very comfortable saying that we're going to get into a subsequent round there, we're going to do great there," Bowden said.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or X feed.