Trans Farm Ltd

New crop crea­ted a need for invest­ment

Hemp seed proces­sing line for hus­king and sor­ting seeds. JCC-08 sor­ter, hus­kers, JCM 10133 sor­ter, JGC08 speci­fic gra­vi­ty sor­ter. JK-Mac­hi­ne­ry also supplied the line design, con­vey­ors, ele­va­tors, beams and auto­ma­tion.

Ent­repre­neurs: Jyr­ki Lep­pä­lä and Juha Hem­min­ki. Fol­lowing the acqui­si­tion, the new owner is Caraway Fin­land Oy.

Hemp cul­ti­va­tion and proces­sing have their own tricks

Hemp is an unde­man­ding crop and does not requi­re weed cont­rol, for example. Hemp also requi­res litt­le fer­ti­li­sa­tion. At the time of wri­ting, in ear­ly spring 2026, with grain prices at their lowest level in seve­ral years, it is clear that far­mers are very inte­res­ted in specia­li­sed crops. If success­ful, the results would be good.

“The­re has been a great deal of inte­rest in cont­ract far­ming,” Jyr­ki desc­ri­bes the progress of the sea­son.

Hemp oil poses its own chal­len­ges in furt­her proces­sing. The work is easier in war­mer weat­her, as cold tem­pe­ra­tu­res cause stic­ky resi­due to accu­mu­la­te more easi­ly in pipes and con­vey­ors.

The equip­ment supplier assis­ted with the design from start to finish.

The old fac­to­ry hall posed a chal­len­ge for the place­ment of equip­ment, as the inte­rior height is limi­ted and the space is furt­her divi­ded by 6‑met­re-long glued lami­na­ted tim­ber beams in the roof struc­tu­re.

JK-Mac­hi­ne­ry desig­ned the equip­ment from scratch so that the exis­ting ele­va­tors and bin con­vey­ors would fit into the exis­ting struc­tu­res. The equip­ment ins­tal­la­tion fra­me was also deli­ve­red rea­dy-made, lea­ving only the assembly of the equip­ment in the plan­ned loca­tions on site.

The manu­fac­tu­rer’s expert visi­ted the site twice – first to check the ins­tal­la­tion of the equip­ment and then to car­ry out the full com­mis­sio­ning, during which the equip­ment was also used to process the cor­rect mate­rial. Jyr­ki desc­ri­bes the fac­to­ry’s help and sup­port as ext­re­me­ly impor­tant, but it is a sig­ni­ficant invest­ment.

User expe­riences with the equip­ment

During our visit, we had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to obser­ve the sor­ting process as Kari Haka­la, the emplo­yee res­pon­sible for pro­duc­tion, proces­sed hemp.

“The equip­ment has held up very well. Over seve­ral years, only one bea­ring has been replaced and a new mat has been reser­ved for the con­vey­or. We added seve­ral ins­pec­tion and clea­ning hatc­hes to the con­vey­ors, as otherwi­se the hemp easi­ly clogs the chan­nels. In addi­tion, the batch being proces­sed at any given time affects the power and set­tings that can be used,” Kari explains as the work progres­ses.

The equip­ment is in hea­vy use, as the mac­hi­nes run in two shifts almost throug­hout the year. Ove­rall, Trans Farm is satis­fied with the equip­ment. The­re are plans for minor process impro­ve­ments to inc­rea­se efficiency, inclu­ding a new hus­ker and a second sor­ter to stream­li­ne grain proces­sing and eli­mi­na­te bott­le­necks.

Ver­sa­ti­le mate­rial hand­ling lines from Ant­ti

Ant­ti has been a JK-Mac­hi­ne­ry dea­ler since 2024. JK-Mac­hi­ne­ry’s mil­ling and grain proces­sing equip­ment has also been used to build seve­ral oat mills and more specia­li­sed ins­tal­la­tions, such as for proces­sing fava beans. Some of the equip­ment is also used out­si­de the tra­di­tio­nal grain industry, with clea­ning drums even being ins­tal­led in pel­let sto­ra­ge faci­li­ties.