A Fort Lupton plant is starting to test and process Colorado's hemp harvest, turning it into pulp that can be used to make paper, sugar -- even biofuels.

It's nickname may be "ditch weed," but the PureVision Technology processing plant in Ft. Lupton is turning Colorado's newest cash crop into something much more valuable.

The hemp plant is cannabis without the psychoactive properties and growing hemp became legal in Colorado last year, along with the recreational marijuana vote

But hemp is still illegal under federal law, so processing facilities are hard to find, and most processing has been done by hand. That's where Purevision Technology steps in. The company plans to process up to 25 tons a day by the fall in a larger facility.

"It's going to save the world. It has thousands of uses, and it's sustainable," said Dani Billings, who started growing hemp last year. "Clothes, shoes, chairs, literally everything that we are in right now can be made from hemp. It just needs to get going."

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28075981/first-large-scale-hemp-processing-plant-begins-colorado?source=infinite