“It will be a Health Canada Level 8 or 9 vault,” said Wilgar, “and that’s where all the dried products have to be stored. It’s a pretty intense vault.”

The site will be processing medical marijuana from the initial cutting of clones from the mothers, planting clones, growing them, drying, processing and holding in the vault before being shipped out.

The strains of marijuana they intend on growing will run on a cycle of seven to 9.5 weeks. In Brantford, the company grows five different strains that include crosses between indica and sativa.

He said the Westbrook automated Dutch tray system is much different than other greenhouses.

The trays are 100 sq. ft, and depending on the strain and the growing cycles, Wilgar estimates they will grow nearly 500,000 plants each year.

With the medical marijuana strains, Up Cannabis focuses on plants that produce high amounts of cannabinoids, which are the medicinal ingredient, but not necessarily THC. Wilgar said that while they are focusing on producing plants with high cannabinoid content, that doesn’t mean they won’t have a high level of THC.

“Brantford was the place where we learned to grow the plants in the right way, and we’re expanding that knowledge to a scale that’s unparalleled in Newstrike’s history,” said Alan Rewak, director of communications for Newstrike Resources Ltd. “This will allow us to introduce the economies of scale while maintaining the efficiency and control that we’ve developed in Brantford.”

With the change in growing practices from Brantford’s indoor growing facility to the natural light inside the former Westbrook greenhouse, Wilgar expects to be learning along the way which strains grow best at the site.

“The key is creating very consistent, high-quality products,” said Wilgar.

While the company is licensed solely for medical marijuana production at the moment, they intend on lining themselves up for recreational production once the legislation is passed to legalize the practice next year.