Editor's Note: CannabisBusinessTimes was curious about Global Oganiks strategy change—abandoning the plan to build five greenhouses to instead build a steel structure, as the article below notes. We caught up with Scott Lowry, COO (aka "The Grow Guru) of Global Organiks, to ask him what was behind this significant shift.
Lowry told CBT that "after many sleepless nights doing math and weighing options, we have decided to forgo our original strategy of phased in greenhouses for a warehouse model." The reason, he said, was that "being that certain strains of cannabis can be fickle ladies to deal with," and after years (nearly 10) of a/b testing in his own facilities in Michigan, Lowry and the board agreed they "wanted complete control over all of the variables involved (i.e., light, temperature, humidity), and they didn't want to leave anything up to unpredictable weather." The original plan involved supplemental, automated lighting measured by light meters and automatically controlled through a greenhouse software system, Lowry explained.
Lowry explained, "Global Organik's main mission is to give people the option to choose an alternative to traditional medicine using cannabis to treat various symptoms in place of pharmaceutical drugs, which may have not worked for that patient. Global Organiks believes it differentiates itself from its competitors in that its operation is designed with green sustainable business processes and ethics at the top of our list.
"First of all, upon approval, we plan on being one of the only 100-percent ... organic pharmaceutical-grade cannabis producers in Canada (the other right now being a company called Organigram, which I really admire for putting Quality above profits)," he continued. "Second, we plan on being a fully sustainable green company trying to achieve a zero-waste footprint by recycling and reusing all of our soil, and recycling all of our waste, including water consumption through reverse osmosis. Third, by offsetting our power consumption throughout our buildout phases by using solar technology. And finally, eventually giving back to the community in the form of community outreach philanthropy, higher-paying job creation, and solid and hopefully sustainable tax revenue which will help out ... with education, law enforcement, and other much needed infrastructure."
Zoning to accommodate a medical marijuana facility in Oldcastle has been approved by the Town of Tecumseh.
Town council hosted a public meeting Tuesday night to discuss the operation on Outer Drive and approved the zoning change.
The property owner asked to re-zone the land so it can be sold to a prospective buyer called Global Organiks, which wants to open a medical marijuana facility there.
That company plans to buy the land and then hire about 10 workers to start, and 27 when at full capacity.
Global Organiks originally planned to build five new greenhouses, but now says it will build a steel structure instead.
