Village Farms International, Inc. (the “Company” or “Village Farms”) (TSX: VFF) (NASDAQ: VFF) today announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Pure Sunfarms, Canada’s premiere cannabis cultivator and brand, has received from Health Canada an amendment to the cultivation license (the “License Amendment”) for its 1.1 million square foot Delta 2 greenhouse facility (the adjacent facility to its Delta 3 facility), permitting Pure Sunfarms to cultivate cannabis immediately in the half of the Delta 2 facility for which conversion to cannabis production has been completed. Under the License Amendment, Pure Sunfarms is also permitted to begin cannabis production in the remaining half of the Delta 2 facility when conversion of that half of facility for cannabis production has been completed.
The amendment to the Delta 2 cultivation license immediately increases Pure Sunfarms’ total cultivation capacity to 1.65 million square feet, all of which is at a single location in Delta, British Columbia. Pure Sunfarms expects to begin planting in the completed half of the Delta 2 facility in September of this year, with the first harvest expected in November of this year. Pure Sunfarms expects to further increase its cultivation capacity to 2.2 million square feet during the second half of 2022 upon completion of the conversion of the remaining half of the Delta 2 facility for cannabis production.
“As many licensed producers in Canada scale back operations, we are proud and excited to be significantly expanding production to meet the expected continued growth in Pure Sunfarms’ retail branded sales, driven by Pure Sunfarms’ leading brand market share in dried flower against the backdrop of the overall growth in the Canadian market, as well as additional opportunities that we are pursuing both within Canada and in international markets,” said Michael DeGiglio, CEO, Village Farms. “Pure Sunfarms has delivered three consecutive quarters of 20 percent or greater growth in retail branded sales, and during the first two months of the second quarter of 2021 was once again the top-selling brand of dried cannabis in Canada’s largest provincial market, as it has been in every quarter since it launched its retail branded products in the fourth quarter of 20191.”
Mr. DeGiglio added, “With this expansion, we expect to benefit from additional economies of scale and other efficiencies that will further support our unique ability to not only offer premium quality cannabis products at an everyday price but to do so while consistently generating profitability. As it has done with the existing Delta 3 facility, which is currently operating at full production, Pure Sunfarms will prudently deploy Delta 2’s production capacity to meet sales demand while continuing to effectively manage inventory levels.”
