WeedMD gets licence to grow cannabis outdoors in Strathroy
A London region pot producer has received the green light to grow cannabis outdoors.
WeedMD, a licensed producer with operations in Aylmer and Strathroy, secured an outdoor cultivation licence from Health Canada to grow cannabis on a 10-hectare plot outside its Strathroy greenhouse, the company announced Friday.
The company will plant 20,000 clones — small cannabis plants grown from the cuttings of a mother plant — on the area formerly used to grow asparagus, the company says.
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The outdoor crop, projected to yield 2,000 kilograms, will boost WeedMD’s annual yield to 68,000 kilograms by 2020, the company says.
“Our ability to scale, coupled with our team’s proven experience in growing our proprietary genetics outdoors, positions us as a first-mover in the industry,†chief executive Keith Merker said in a statement.
“We have put together the most compelling outdoor cultivation plan in the industry and this licence is the final piece of that plan to fall into place.â€
Two weeks ago, 48North secured Ontario’s first outdoor cultivation licence to grow cannabis at its Brantford-area Good Farm, where the company plans to hire 200 workers to harvest and process marijuana.
Growing cannabis outside is seen as a significantly cheaper alternative to greenhouse and indoor cultivation. Marijuana grown outdoors will mostly be used for cannabis extracts and concentrates.
WeedMD is also in the process of converting its 8,000-square-metre indoor grow operation, located in Aylmer’s former Imperial Tobacco Plant, into an extraction plant. The move comes in anticipation of the introduction of cannabis-infused edibles and concentrates in the fall.
Consumer spending on cannabis-based food and drink is projected to hit 4.1 billion in the United States and Canada by 2022, according to a report by ArcView Market Research and BDS Analytics.