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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-05-10, Page 11Kincardine 7 Acres cannabis greenhouse Troy Patterson Postmedia Network Kincardine's 7 Acres cannabis greenhouse is ramping up both hiring and construction that's expected to see over $70 million invested to see the entire 340,000 -square -foot facility built out by 2019. Originally envisioned as a six- to 10 -year project with about 100 employees will now staff upwards of 300 employees at full capacity. 7 Acres' parent company, the publicly -traded Supreme Pharma- ceuticals, aims to see the facility's production skyrocket from 100kg/ month of medical -grade cannabis the test grow room currently pro- duces, to about 1,000kg/week with close to 30 grow rooms at peak. Supreme Pharmaceutical's chief executive officer John Fowler said the company has its license to cul- tivate, which was renewed for a year in March 2017, and is cur- rently awaiting Health Canada approval for a license to sell canna- bis, which he said they're confident they'll obtain due to their strong team and proven practices. "Business -wise, waiting on the license to sell doesn't slow down our expansion," Fowler said. "The crew is going full -out to complete the project and deliver the 310,000 square -feet as quickly as possible, particularly with the recent news of the legalization for July of2018." 'lhe original intent of the project was aiming at steady growth for a medical -only market. But Fowler said medical cannabis patients are now growing by about 10 per cern per month, with 100,000 so far in Canada and climbing, which he said are impressive numbers in the eyes of Supreme. And with Canada's Cannabis Act scheduled to see cannabis legal- ized for recreational sale and use by adults on July 1, 2018, 7 Acres is poised to supply a dual -channel medical -recreational cannabis market, expected to use similar production regulations as the robust pharmaceutical -grade can- nabis they're currently producing. "We're still waiting on further information from Health Canada, but they have said they are going to maintain a distinct and robust medical system, which I think is great," Fowler said. "But the details now as to ho'.v you'll operate both is unknown. But we are advised that licensed producers are likely to be producing for both markets." Asked whether their invest- ments would involve a cannabis processing facility to handle the recreation market, Fowler said 7 Acres aims to continue producing cannabis for bulk sales, by drying, manicuring, and packaging the product. "We'll resell that as a branded product to other producers," Fowler said. "At this stage we're waiting on more regulatory guides about what the recreational point of sale looks like, before determin- ing what investment is needed in distribution and the consumer packaging" "We feel at the.end of the day, quality cannabis is desirable, whether you're a medical user or recreational user. While the exact strains or products clients are look- ing for may change, if you have good production practices, good cannabis and lots of it, you'll be successful in either market" The expansion at the Bruce Energy Centre greenhouse between Tiverton and Port Elgin is Wednesday, May 10, 2017 • Signal Star 11 expecting to staff up to 300 now expected to be one continu- ous project, Fowler said. "As rooms are completed, we'll move for licensing, we'll bring them online and plant," he said. "So you'll see a pretty continuous, steady growth trajectory from here to 2019:' The grow rooms are built to be identical, like condominiums Fowler said, which allows for numerous benefits from a manage- ment perspective in terms of staff- ing, resources and security. "It also adds a lot of deriskiiig for the construction project," he said. "Essentially once the group has fig- ured out how to build one room correctly, they'll he replicating that about 30 times throughout the facility." The idea of the rooms being repeatable also makes it familiar with contractors, staff knows where equipment is to be and how the room operates, and for Health Can- ada, a design that has worked and been approved in the past, which aids regulation, Fowler said. Supreme's objective for 7 Acres is to make the facility "one of, if not the largest cultivator here in Can- ada," Fowler said. "Once we complete the green- house on the timeline that's antici- pated we'll be near the top in terms of production, but getting that number one spot will mean expan- sion beyond this greenhouse here," he said. Though the footprint on the cur- rent site will be at its maximum capacity in 2019, he said Bruce County and areas around show promise for future projects. A lawyer by trade, Fowler described the introduction of Can- nabis Act last week was a "global event" with Canada being the first G7 country to take steps to legalize recreational cannabis. "While the bill is far from per- fect, I think it's actually the per- fect first step," he said. "Doing something like this you have to be very careful, you have to be very measured in your approach. The reality is only a little over half of Canadians support legalization. So I think it's important to take it slow and over time I expect to see liberalization of what today is a rather restrictive regulatory regime." 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