West Virginia’s first crop aggregation facility, opened in Huntington’s West End in June of 2016, has been deemed a waste of taxpayers’ money and is being brought to an end.

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s new administration, headed by agriculture commissioner Kent Leonhardt, has determined the Huntington Aggregation Center was losing money and had only been used a few times.

“The lease with the West Virginia National Guard for using the Armory building at 800 Virginia Ave. in Huntington as an aggregation center will not be renewed,” said Cresent Gallagher, communications director and legislative liaison at the department.

Gallagher said all of the equipment would be moved by next week, for possible reuse in other parts of the state, by other entities.

“I am not sure you could say that this facility really ever opened,” Gallagher said. “It was used only a handful of times and never really got up and running.”