CAN (ON): First licensed producer in Canada to start growing cannabis outdoors

WeedMD will begin planting more than 20,000 cannabis plants during the week of June 10, 2019 at its Strathroy, Ontario site. The company expects to be the first licensed producer in Canada to start growing cannabis outdoors. 

“We are leading the way and making history as the first Canadian LP expected to bring outdoor cultivation online,” said Keith Merker, CEO of WeedMD. “We have a very experienced cultivation team led by our Chief Cannabis Officer Derek Pedro. This same team has successfully grown cannabis outdoors at scale for more than 10 years under Canada’s medical program. The 27-acres  is primed and ready for our proven high-CBD and THC outdoor strains, which are already rooted and waiting to be planted.”

WeedMD also recently announced the transition of its Aylmer, Ontario facility into a cannabis extraction and processing hub. With the large volume of low-cost input material that the outdoor harvest will generate, the company is positioned to process and market significant quantities of extracts and concentrates starting in Q4, 2019.

WeedMD outdoor cultivation

• Health Canada licence amendment secured on May 31, 2019
• Phase I includes the first 27 of 100 available acres at its Strathroy property
• Construction of fencing, security, irrigation and other required infrastructure is complete within a fully-funded $2 million budget
• 73 additional acres of production planned for Phase II in 2020 on the existing property
• Municipal approval secured
• Operational synergies with outdoor cultivation directly adjacent to WeedMD’s existing propagation operations within its licenced greenhouse facility
• All infrastructure and staffing resources exist onsite with a proven team dedicated to the outdoor grow
• WeedMD’s cultivation team brings significant experience growing cannabis outdoors locally
• Selected strains proven to excel outdoors in southwestern Ontario
• More than 20,000 plants already rooted in organic material and ready to be planted
• Growing from rooted plants allows for higher yields, survival rates and consistency when compared to starting from seed