Investors received an inside look last week at the progress of a large-scale greenhouse in East Ladner that’s making the switch to cannabis.
AgraFlora Organics International Inc. hosted a tour for potential investors at the Houweling Nurseries complex on 64th Street last Tuesday.
Late last year, the company announced its partnership with Houweling Nurseries that will see the conversion of the 2.2-million-square-foot greenhouse for cannabis production, a joint venture called Propagation Services Canada.
The 20-hectare (49-acre) facility will be the second largest cannabis greenhouse facility under glass in Canada among those that are currently built.
The retrofit includes the installation of CCTV systems, as well as advanced perimeter and post-harvest access controls that will be completed by the second week of July.
The inaugural harvest is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020 and AgraFlora expects Health Canada to grant a cultivation licence by the fourth quarter of 2019.
Brandon Boddy, chairman and CEO of AgraFlora, said they already have two significant agreements in place, one with Namaste representing 25,000,000 grams per year and another with ICC International Cannabis Corp. representing up to 100,000,000 grams over a five-year year period.
“Our objective is to complete a world-class facility that we can all be proud of,” he said. “Our company is focused on putting out a quality product and we can do that working with the expert team here at Houweling.”
Casey Houweling said the venture is an exciting one for his company.
“It’s a pleasure to see so many people come out to witness this start-up. It’s an exciting time for our business after a long history of growing,” said Houweling. “We have a great team here with a lot of years of growing experience. We still have a lot of work to do, but what sets us apart from the other operations out there is that we have a skilled management team on the construction side, on the layouts and operations, that will make this into a top-notch growing operation.
“We are proud of what this is and what this has turned into. We will be even prouder once we start production.”
