Captiva Coverage in NB paper
N.B. duo plans ‘significant’ cannabis farm
17:03
Tom Bateman | Times & Transcript
A New Brunswick-based company says it will apply for federal approval to
become one of the first outdoor cannabis farms in the country.
Marc LeBlanc, president of Moncton’s Port Royal Distillery, will partner with
businessman and accountant Len Wood on Solargram Farms Corporation.
The duo intend to grow five strains of high-potency cannabis on multiple
sites, and produce cannabis oil concentrate in an extraction facility they plan
to build in Moncton.
The goal, Wood said, is to develop a high-quality, low-cost product by getting
to the “natural roots of the plant,” by harnessing the sun.
“We are strategically positioned to be a significant player in the outdoor grow
space in Canada,” Wood said. “We are looking to become a major generator
of employment and tax base for the province of New Brunswick.”
Wood said he expects first-year sales to be in excess of $70 million.
Solargram already features a “very experienced” in-house staff of about 16,
Wood said, and is in negotiation with British Columbia-based Capitva Verde
Land Corporation, a publicly traded company.
In a Tuesday release, Capitva CEO Jeffrey Ciachurski said talks are underway
to acquire Solargram and connect it with Captiva’s planned distribution
network in Mexico, where the country’s new government is moving to
legalize cannabis.
Ciachurski said they believe the outdoor model will prove to be much
cheaper, cost effective and greener than the massive indoor facilities that most
licensed producers have built in Canada.
“We think Solargram has defined the criteria to provide an outdoor,
organically-grown product that is much healthier,” he said.
The company plans to start growing on 35 acres of a 75-acre plot of
agricultural land in Bas-Cap-Pelé, and later develop two other grow sites in
the region. Wood projects 100 per cent production increases annually for the
first five years.
Wood said retired RCMP officers have been hired to plan “24/7” security for
the operation.
The production facility will be in Metro Moncton, he said, but details aren’t
yet finalized.
The New Brunswick climate is not a concern.
“People have been growing cannabis outdoors in New Brunswick for a long
time [for the black market],” Ciachurski said.
The plan is to grow at least five proprietary strains to produce high-content
THC oil, that Wood said are, “formerly of the black market, that grow
excessively well in the Maritime climate.”
“The cannabis plant is a wild plant. It was created to be grown outdoors,
naturally, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.
Seedlings will be raised indoors, then acclimatized and planted outdoors.
Solargram will file its application for a cultivation licence this week, Wood
said, and then Health Canada’s regulation process will play a large role in how
quickly the company develops.
Wood is a strong proponent of the health benefits of the cannabis plant.
“I think it’s a game changer,” he said. “I think this is a very good thing for
people, the economy, and the agricultural sector
