Copperstate Farms expands facility, work force

Having received certification May 26 for 8 acres for production from the Arizona Department of Health Services, they are moving forward with their plans.

Plagued with material delays for renovation, Copperstate Farms’ planned schedule for hiring employees was delayed. The magic number given at the initial press conference in May 2016 was 136 jobs.

Though some contested that number, J. Fife Symington IV, managing partner of Copperstate, has continued to stand by 132 to 136 as the number of average paying jobs with benefits that will be on the Copperstate payroll.

For the last eight months, the facility has not been dormant. Sixty-four people have been working. Many of the things Symington promised as he laid out the plans for the facility with the public have been put into operation or are in motion.

Security has been a concern of many. Though you may see the 40-acre greenhouse facility behind Larson Waste at Industrial Park, no one can enter without authorization. A security guard checks for approval and, if approved, people are given a badge. After entering the building, the badge must be visible at all times.

Security cameras are strategically placed all throughout the building. Employees have I.D. cards similar to credit or debit cards with chips. Though all employees have the chip I.D. card, the chips do not open all doors. The cards are sophisticated and can limit entry depending on the clearance of the individual employee. Should an employee be escorting a visitor, the employee must sign in, listing the visitor with the entry time and then on exit, the time of exit.

Lab coats, hairnets and gloves are required, even of visitors, depending upon the area of entry. There is also a panic button in each room should an emergency occur. After ones business is conducted at the greenhouse, the visitor badge must be surrendered and the visitor must sign out with the time.

Another area of concern the public had was with ventilation and odor control. Copperstate invested in a hallway which is a quarter-mile long. Air comes down the hallway and is forced through the filtration system, which then sucks the air back up through the middle and up above. Another way of describing it is that side vents in the hallway pull the air in, then the vents above treat the air before sending it out the roof vents.

Initially, ADHS certified Copperstate for three acres, but has now certified them for five more, for a total of eight. Having gone through various stages from the mother plant to the clone or propagation, to vegetation, the last steps are extraction and processing, which is the next phase.

“Next week we will start the extraction and processing area,” Symington said.

Copperstate’s technology is state-of-the-art. For year-round growth, a computer tricks the cannabis plants into believing it is dark when it is actually light, or vice versa — and it is working. They have flowering plants that are healthy and thriving. They use organic pesticide for the plants and also use biological pest control, placing packets of “good bugs” on or near the plants so they can eat the “bad” bugs.

Temperature and moisture control are also important for the plants and those are also strictly controlled. Cuttings from the mother plant produce the clone. There is a bar code on each plant container that enables the facility to find the plant and its strain all the way to back to when it was cut from the mother plant. When the propagation takes place, the cutting in placed into rock wool and then gets a lot of moisture for positive growth.

“By September the whole North section will be full,” Symington said.

His goal, though he has agri-business interests in other areas of the world, is to focus 100 percent on the Snowflake operation this year. Except for some commitments previously made, he will be totally hands-on locally.

As promised in the press conference in May 2016, and moving beyond the initial 64 employees first hired, Copperstate is pushing for 120 total hires for this first phase.

Being a good corporate citizen by honoring the promises made to the Town of Snowflake, providing jobs — first to those of Navajo County, and taking care of business is the only way Copperstate wants to be in the newspaper these days.

Symington said he is pleased with the people they have hired thus far, and according to a couple of employees, they are pleased with the work environment, job, pay and benefits at Copperstate.

Copperstate is paying regular employees $15 per hour and supervisory or managerial employees $40 per hour, both with benefits. Applications are online at copperstatefarms.com.