of these plants? MZ: The growing process is an interesting one – it has a lot of nuances. I’m not a trained grower but I know process at a very high level. We use skilled labour, people coming from horticulture and the food industry and people coming with pharma experience. It’s about quality assurance. We also have a lot of people who have science and lab back- grounds. There is a lot of science that goes into growing the optimal plant for whatever your needs are. You need to know about specific traits and then the necessary and pertinent details on theprocessing side for that plant type. It goes beyond the growth stage, too. We’re talking curing and packaging and then on the pharma side the extracting of the cannabis plant and then doing further refinement like specific distillation on cannabinoids and terpenes. It gets quite technical. We also have staff that take care of sanitation and support work. JR: There are also programs being introduced at a number of colleges and universities in Ontario particularly that focus on the cultivation and processing of cannabis. I know Niagara College has announced a horticulture program that focuses specifically on cannabis; Durham College, as
thing we must consider while we’re thinking about the expansion of our current facility. With the backdrop of the illegal market – because it’s still going to be around for the foreseeable future – I think there will be more pressure on the price in respect to licensed producers. We’d have to produce at a lower cost and produce higher volumes to meet the objectives of the government (which is to keep prices to 10 dollars a gram). There will always be options on the black market and the reputation of government stores won’t help the matter. I understand that expansion is in your future, Max. MZ: We originally acquired 80 acres in Paris, Ontario and we’re looking at expansion at that site. Our current facility is about 30,000 square feet of space between the grow space and admin and that facility will be expanding to about 60,000 square feet with more advanced lab space and materials handling – with very high indoor production capability as well. Who’s behind the research, the care, and the cultivation It will take a while for the legalized marketplace to develop.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JANUARY 2018
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