Canopy Growth receives licence to add substantial production capacity in Saskatchewan

PHOTO: Pixabay

SMITHS FALLS, Ont. – Canopy Growth Corporation has received a new licence from Health Canada permitting it to grow cannabis at an outdoor site in northern Saskatchewan.

Hours after receiving the licence, the first cannabis cuttings were planted at a 7 million sq. ft. (160 acres) secure cultivation field in the province.

The new licence complements Canopy’s existing indoor and greenhouse facilities to produce low-cost input materials for value-add products, while ensuring more sophisticated growing operations for in-demand flower products.

“Our team has outdoor, at-scale cannabis expertise gained from over a decade of hemp farming experience, including Canopy’s 4,000-acre hemp operation executed last year, the extract of which is bolstering our CBD supply for the medical and recreational markets,” said Mark Zekulin, president and co-CEO, Canopy Growth. “At this stage in the summer planting season we view this as a pilot and ramp up project for outdoor cannabis cultivation, though the team will do everything it can to deliver low cost yields this year.”

The outdoor cannabis grow operation in Saskatchewan is in addition to Canopy Growth’s major hemp production platform, which scaled up from the 4,000 acres mentioned above to over 5,000 acres in 2019.

The expansion will produce cannabinoids at scale to support value-add products like beverages, chocolates and vape devices at higher margins than are achievable using inputs from indoor and greenhouse facilities, said the company.

Canopy Growth operates retail stores across Canada under its Tweed and Tokyo Smoke banners.