A large-scale East Delta greenhouse operation that’s made the switch to cannabis has entered the highly lucrative Alberta market.
Village Farms International, which has a partnership with Emerald Health called Pure Sunfarms, this week announced it has begun shipping branded, packaged dried cannabis products to Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis.
It’s the provincial wholesaler of recreational adult-use cannabis products to private retailers in that province and the only authorized online retailer in Alberta.
Pure Sunfarms says it expects its products to be available to retail customers in Alberta beginning next week.
With the launch of Pure Sunfarms' products in Alberta, the Delta producer’s products will be available in three of Canada's four most populous provinces - Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta - and accessible to nearly two-thirds of the Canadian recreational cannabis market, the company says.
Pure Sunfarms also notes Alberta represents approximately 12 per cent of Canada's population, however with a network of more than 400 retail stores, which is by far the largest of any Canadian province, it generated 22 per cent of total retail trade cannabis sales in Canada for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2019.
That makes it the second largest provincial market for cannabis products in Canada.
Meanwhile, recent Statistics Canada data shows Canadians spent $1.2 billion on recreational cannabis in the first full calendar year since legalization.
The biggest increases were in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.
An earlier StatsCan report noted British Columbians, on a per capita basis, spent the least amount on legal pot.
The plan by Pure Sunfarms is to have all 2.2 million square feet of production space at the Delta greenhouse facility converted to cannabis.
