Kitchener pot grower JWC receives Health Canada licence for larger facility

Within hours of receiving its new licence to produce marijuana in the former Lear factory in Kitchener, staff at James E. Wagner Cultivation started moving plants over from their smaller facility.

The licence came in Friday afternoon and company president and CEO Nathan Woodworth saidthey got staff together to celebrate.

"I think it was just a tremendous moment for JWC and everyone felt that," Woodworth said in an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

"We got everybody together just to look around the room and recognize the fantastic team that got us across the line and got us to this point where we can begin to compete with some of the biggest cannabis companies in Canada."

Then, they got to work.

"Within 24 hours of getting our licence, 50 per cent of the flowering rooms at this facility in our pilot phase were filled. We had thousands of plants landed on site and we were in full production," he said.

The GrowthStorm system JWC developed that gives the company more control and consistency in its product, is flexible, Woodworth said, which is why they were able to start moving right away.

"There was a lot of celebration, there was a lot of work and a lot of tired people by the end of the weekend," he said.

More than 40 new strains

Cultivation work is now underway at the much larger second location for the company on Manitou Drive. Woodworth said the new location makes JWC one of the largest aeroponic growers in the world.

He says eventually, 43 new strains of cannabis will be produced at the new facility andthe move will mean the company can really ramp up growth, Woodworth said. That will mean they can focus beyond serving their medical marijiuana clients and start looking to producefor the recreational market.

"We're going to be able to grow a huge volume of product. Our medical patient base probably won't grow as fast as our production footprint will," he said.

"We're happy begin to engage and to bring this product to the recreational markets of Canada. I think there's a lot of need for it there, too."