In 2014, Graves and a Kentucky-bred board of directors formed Atalo Holdings Inc., which now boasts a suite of hemp cultivation, processing, manufacturing and research initiatives. The company, based in Winchester, Ky., shares 147 acres with GenCanna Global USA on what executives call the Hemp Research Campus. Those two companies formalized a partnership on Dec. 12, 2018, at the dawn of the legal domestic hemp industry in the U.S., according to a press release, to “create the largest vertically integrated hemp-derived CBD production, processing and distribution alliance in Kentucky.”

In the short while since last December’s passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, the market has started to make dramatic shifts. Cannabis companies like Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) have decided to go all-in on hemp, and existing hemp producers have begun to ramp up their production capacities.How has the hemp industry adjusted to its newly minted legal status? The Hemp Business Journal caught up with Joe Hickey, Atalo Holdings, Inc.’s founder and director of corporate relations, to inquire.