Canada’s craft cannabis market is, for lack of a better word, seeing immense
growth, but while many growers struggle to jump to the regulated market, a new platform is emerging to help.
North America's largest craft cannabis brand house,
Pasha Brands Ltd. (CSE: CRFT, OTC:CRFTF, FSE:ZDD) recently announced that it has signed supply agreements with the first two licensed micro-operators in Canada – legal small-scale cannabis growers. These partnerships were signed via Pasha’s subsidiary,
BC Craft Supply Co. Ltd., who will be supplied with the growers’ annual production, to in turn, be sold as dried flower and other cannabis products in Canada. The Company has entered this lucrative area early and made the key move of securing the first two legal micros in the country.
North 40 Cannabis is a microprocessor and micro cultivator who recently came on-board the Pasha team. Operating out of Saskatchewan, North 40
will plant its first legal crop in August 2019 and harvest later in the fall.
Canada has tens of thousands of craft producers operating in the illicit cannabis market (20,000 in BC alone). It is no secret the Canadian market, for all its potential, is trudging through ongoing supply challenges. The current crop of licensed cannabis producers are only able to supply an estimated 15% of what Canadians are consuming. In an August 2019
news release on the North 40 partnership, Pasha’s leadership stated that it is optimistic these new supply agreements will help
correct the cannabis supply imbalance and bring exciting new products to market.
Highlighting the significance of this being the first microprocessor in Canada, Pasha CEO Jason Longden called the news a valuable affirmation of BC Craft’s business model with both the micro-cultivation market but also now with processors.
“North 40 has established a state-of-the-art cultivation and processing facility and we are proud to work with such an innovative team. This is simply the next step in fulfilling our goal of becoming the biggest producer of craft cannabis products in Canada and I'm confident North 40 will help us bring Canadians more of the cannabis that they're looking for.”
This craft grower joins Pasha’s previously announced supply partnership with
Hearst Organic Cannabis revealed in late
July 2019. Established in the town of Hearst, Ontario, it is the first operator to earn a micro-cultivation license from Health Canada and will also plant its first legal crop in August 2019 with harvest forecast for later in the fall.
Each micro cultivator in Canada will be able to produce approximately 500 kilograms of cannabis per year, while each microprocessor can process up to 600 kilograms of cannabis per year. Pasha’s subsidiary BC Craft Supply Co. will help small farmers transition into the regulated market.
There is immense value in this opportunity – for every 10 micro cultivators at 5,000 kilograms of production per year, at $5 per gram, amounts to revenues upward of
$25 million (CAD).
To accomplish this goal, BC Craft will assist craft growers in obtaining security clearance and licensing to grow as micro-cultivators, specializing in education and compliance to bring growers into the regulated cannabis supply market. BC Craft already has more than 100 micro cultivators signed, undergoing the licensing process.
Given that this was a first-of-its-kind, CEO Longden noted in a news release that the historic significance of this agreement can’t be understated.
“Joël [Lacelle] and his team started with a shovel and navigated the licensing process in just over nine months.”
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.