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That leaves indoor farmers increasingly eyeing the more lucrative source of green.

“They’re doing the math and saying: ‘Hey, if I’m unable to get my prices up on my vegetables, then this marijuana thing and what they’re paying for it… might help me average out’.”

Their newfound interest in what was once the black sheep of horticulture presents an opportunity for Canadian licensed marijuana producers looking to scale up quickly.

Newstrike bought the greenhouse in August from the Westbrook Group of Companies, which is in the midst of overhauling operations as the flower business is facing new challenges including online shopping and cost increases.

Newstrike had been looking at several greenhouses to take over and decided that the semi-robotic orchid facility would be best suited for growing cannabis, said chief operating officer Kevin Epp.

Newstrike preferred to retrofit a greenhouse and hire some of its employees rather than build one from the ground up, which can require long application processes for permits and recruiting and training of new employees, Epp added.

Others are also jumping into the greenhouse space, which offers licensed producers more natural, and therefore cheaper, growing conditions than the large-scale warehouses they first began building.

In December, Canopy Growth Corp. signed a joint venture deal with Les Serres Stephan Bertrand Inc., a large-scale tomato greenhouse operator in Quebec. As part of the deal, Canopy will lease a greenhouse from Bertrand that will be upgraded and retrofitted for cannabis production by April.