A peek inside the massive expansion at P.E.I. cannabis facility
With increased production, the company eventually plans to ship product to Europe
An expansion of Figr's production facility on P.E.I. is almost complete, officials say. The Island cannabis company has added 210,000 square feet to its Charlottetown plant.
Edwin Jewell, the company's president and CEO, said about 46,000 square feet of the added space will be dedicated to processing and 164,000 square feet will be dedicated to growing.
The indoor growing facility was built specifically for cannabis and includes computerized monitoring systems and climate control.
The company has invested heavily in the Charlottetown plant with the aim of ramping up production, Jewell said.
"Our processing building has been built to European GMP standards, which will allow us to ship product to Europe when the opportunity arises," he said.
"That's a huge deal and we're very excited."
35 times more cannabis
Jewell said the expansion will enable the company to produce 35 times more cannabis — which amounts to about 43,000 kilograms per year.
He said he expects the expansion will also mean more jobs.
Currently, the company has about 119 employees. Jewell said he expects that number to grow to 200 by the end of the year.
"We actually started the company with a team of just four. We got our licence, our initial business plan projected we would need between 15 and 20 people," he said.
Figr is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of global agriculture company Pyxus International.
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With files from Jessica Doria-Brown