Michigan Developer Cancels Farming Plans As Investors Balk Over Strategy
Heartland failed to make payments with 20 Michigan growers
Michigan-based Heartland Corporate Holdings LLC (“Heartland Industries”) has canceled plans to grow 5,500 acres of fiber hemp this year after potential investors backed out, citing reservations over the company’s strategy.
Heartland confirmed that it failed to make payments April 1 under farm lease contracts with 20 Michigan growers, the result of investor reluctance over the vertically integrated business model Heartland had embraced, said Jesse Henry, the company’s CEO.
Henry said while the investors were “willing to finance manufacturing operations and client relationships, and the sales and marketing side of the business,” they were not inclined to finance agricultural operations, which bring more risk. That left Heartland in a “compromised position,” as Henry put it.
Farmers left scrambling
Heartland, which was started in 2020, has said its goal is to develop hemp-based materials as additives for polymers, mainly for the plastics and rubber sectors, to capitalize on a shift by producers and compounders of petroleum-based materials into more sustainable outputs.
The withdrawal of the investors on Wednesday, March 30, forced Heartland to cancel its hemp farming plans one day before the farmer payments were due.
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