A Budding Industry: Lubbock hemp farm has high hopes for success

Upon walking through the doors of Caprock Family Farms, an earthy aroma filled the air: the captivating blend of fresh soil and sweet botanical musk.

In the back storage, a wall of shelves stocked thousands of pre-rolled joints, vapes, oils and topicals made from their hand-grown hemp crop.

After pointing out the smell inside the office, co-owner and operator Ann Gauger joked: "Just wait." Two blocks away, an even more potent scent had permeated every nook and cranny of the grow facility, where they clone, water, trim and dry every single product that lands on their shelves.

Like many farms in West Texas, the business is similar in that it's primarily owned and operated by family. Husband-and-wife duo Keil and Ann Gauger own the operations, and their sons Brett and Zach serve, respectively, as head grower and marketing and sales specialist. Pulling up in their truck, grandparents stopping by for a brief chat reaffirmed the company's family-based principles.

Caprock Family Farms is also similar in that the Gaugers are second- and third-generation farmers, a trait common among most farmers here.

But for the most part, the indoor hemp farm, which sits along the southwestern-most edge of Lubbock, is unlike any other farm in the region.

Taking roots indoors

For years, the Gauger Family had talked about growing hemp; it was a dream of their late father and grandfather who always wanted to pursue the plant once it became legal in Texas.

Having already owned several thousands of acres across the region, growing nearly every grain and fiber under the sun, the Gaugers were happy to take on a new challenge in his honor once the plant became legal in 2019.

But it didn't take long before Mother Nature humbled their entrepreneurial spirits.

While Lubbock's fertile soil and hot summers are well-suited for the grain crops they're used to, these same conditions bring challenge for hemp cultivation. Extreme weather conditions, periodic droughts, and most importantly, high winds proved themselves as obstacles of the family's efforts.

"Everything was just covered in layers of dust," Keil said of their first crop in 2020.

The following year, they decided they would instead move their crops inside to a climate-controlled facility that would better promote the quality of their products. They also use LED lights to mimic the sun's cycles, CO2 to stimulate photosynthesis and large fans to imitate the motion of wind.

Now, less than three years after their start, the Gauger Family operates the largest indoor grow facility in the state — distributing their products to dozens of businesses across the High Plains, Metroplex and Central Texas — and their team has expanded to include Director of Business Development Matt Roach, Supply Chain & Logistics Analyst Luke Kelly and Head of Social Media Maddie Goldstein.

Their crop, which started off in a small corner in the southeast side of the building but now fills most of the 5,000 sq. ft. grow facility and will soon expand to include a vertical wall, is also a testament to the family's ambition and desire to do their best.

Separated by their stage in life, hundreds of lush plants fill each room. If all goes right, they'll eventually be transformed into one of Caprock Family Farm's dozens of products: possibly the peppermint-vanilla CBD salve, blackberry snooze delta-8 gummies or the sour space candy pre-roll joints. Or, for the best of the crop, the award-winning hot cinnamon CBD oil.

A business of learning

Before every harvest, the state of Texas requires a representative from the Department of State Health Services to trim a plant and send it to a lab to test its THC percentage. If the potency is greater, producers are required to destroy the entire crop.

For three of their crops, the quality of their care may have actually been too good, exceeding the state's legal THC percentage for CBD and delta-8 products. (Delta-8 is essentially a less potent alternative to the "regular" cannabis product that remains banned in Texas. The greatest difference is the location of a double bond that occurs on the eighth carbon in delta-8 instead of the ninth carbon in delta-9, or cannabis.)

"We can't tell them which plant to cut, which part of the plant, anything, when they test it," Ann said. "But we do, do everything by the books, and if they tell us we have to destroy it, then we destroy it. It's definitely a tough pill to swallow when it happens, though."

But beyond the business of growing, the Gaugers said there was a whole new world for them to learn in production and distribution. And because the market for hemp is so new in Texas, the family has had to take every business matter into their own hands.

For instance, every single item in their facility was produced, packaged and marked — with date and THC percentage — by them, which Keil said is an important part of the process because it holds them transparent and proves their credibility to their customers.

"We didn't know (we would have to do all) this when we got into the business," Ann said. "We've learned a lot."

Once they finally got the hang of it and found a steady pace, controversy began to stir among state legislators, who have ultimately banned the production of smokable hemp, one of their biggest sellers, in Texas.

While the Gaugers explained that they can continue to sell the existing products on their shelves, they have several containers of hemp, intended for joints, that are now just waiting in storage.

In theory, the family could hop the state line and produce more on their property in New Mexico, but they said they had hoped state officials would recognize the benefits of their products and change the policy this session. Instead, the policy in support of smokable hemp failed in the Senate.

Regardless, they said, they still have thousands of products on their shelves and the shelves of local business partners for customers to enjoy.

"Ultimately, we want to be on the right side of things," Goldstein said.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: A Budding Industry: Lubbock hemp farm has high hopes for success