PORTUGAL’S California-like weather is making it a prime destination for cannabis cultivators.
Canadian firms Tilray, Aurora and The Flowr Corporation all now have stakes on the Iberian Peninsula.
Toronto-based Flowr last year finalized its purchase of Holigen Holdings to produce high-quality cannabis, with an expected annual capacity of 500,000 kilograms
Holigen has established a huge cannabis operation in Aljustrel, about 100 miles south east of the capital Lisbon. The 72-hectare site is one of the largest outdoor THC licenced producers in the world.
One of Portugal’s major attractions for such foreign companies is that it has ideal climatic and local cultivation conditions.
It represents an attractive market, with relatively low labor costs and and a recent change in the law allows for the distribution of medical cannabis to other EU nations, where it is legal.
Edmonton-based Aurora has acquired a 51% ownership stake in Gaia Pharma, and Tilray is now exporting product from its European Campus in Cantanhede, Portugal.