CHESANING, MI – Thousands of marijuana plants are growing in the village of Chesaning under the watchful eye of the state’s first licensed medical marijuana growing company.

VB Chesaning has converted an old dairy farm into 20,000 square feet of space for growing, manufacturing and packaging medical marijuana — and they’re still expanding.

Jason Pasko, chief operating officer of VB Chesaning, said the owners, who are two Michigan natives, knew someone in the Chesaning area and decided to purchased the property about a year and a half ago, then quickly started building the state-of-the-art facility to grow marijuana.

“By November of last year, we started construction,” Pasko said, “and we’ve been up and growing since Dec. 15 of last year.”

VB Chesaning was the first licensee under the Michigan Medical Facilities Licensing Act. It holds permits to grow up to 6,000 marijuana plants at one time.

Their product isn’t available for direct sale to the public. Rather, it is purchased by licensed retailers, who then sell it to medical marijuana patients in cities like Detroit, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor and Bay City.

Inside the Chesaning facility, workers use a variety of equipment to process marijuana and extract marijuana oil from the plants. They make marijuana-infused chocolate bars, coffee beans, gummy bears, as well as the company’s own branded joints and other items. All of the product is regulated by the state.

Much of the facility is laid out similar to an industrial kitchen in a hotel or large venue center. The walls, ceilings and floors are made of material that is mold-resistant and makes it very easy to wash off so bacteria or other contaminants don’t stick to the floor or walls.

Inside the growing areas, workers take great care of the plants with the help of constant humidity control. They even use lady bugs to help kill any potential insects that might make their way into the growing areas.

“Without question, we have 20,000 square feet of actual production space built out, that is built to the highest standards certainly in this industry,” Pasko said, “and as high as standards that you will see in any food environment.”

In one room where they grow marijuana, there are 816 varied plants with names like Skunkberry, Alienbooberry to Zuzu and Rocket Fuel.

Phil Hedden, general manager of the facility, said they employ 50 workers who do everything from tending to marijuana plants, packaging, testing quality and trimming plants to be sent out for consumption.

“Our mantra from the beginning and Phil’s mantra is that’s going to be the backbone of what we do," Pasko said. "Yeah we grow cannabis, but at the end of the day, you have to rely on the people and you set out to really hire the best people.”

Hedden added that also helps the city of Chesaning because workers will go out and eat at the restaurants for lunch, or if they need to get parts for the machines, they can go to the hardware store.

Hedden comes from a food-production background, and while medical marijuana is a little bit different, he still likened it to making something that someone will consume and there are good manufacturing processes that are used globally and apply to the facility as well.

Earlier this year, Michigan voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana on Nov. 6 and while recreational marijuana licensing won’t really be starting until 2020 at the earliest, Pasko and Hedden are excited about what the future could be for the Michigan market.

“I want to say that Chesaning itself has been very open to us,” Pasko said. “It’s incredible, not just the local government but the people have been excited about what we are doing. This is a brand-new industry in a brand-new state and they are on the forefront, they took the chances early for us and we are happy for that and they are happy for it, too.”