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Meanwhile, Leamington Mayor John Paterson said the municipality has fielded even more queries from other companies interested in setting up local marijuana grow operations.

“We have been meeting with several other large marijuana producers as well, who are looking quite seriously at Leamington,” Paterson said Wednesday. “I don’t want to say the more the merrier, but if this area becomes the hub, that just makes it all the better for the municipality of Leamington.”

Tomato farming took a hit in 2014 when Heinz, which had made ketchup and other food products in Leamington since 1909, left town. But the area greenhouse industry is growing like a corn stalk, with cannabis as the most recent star crop.

Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

So could Leamington become the Cannabis Capital of Canada?

“We joke about that, yes,” Paterson acknowledged. “But we’re becoming known as the Greenhouse Capital of Canada. Between Leamington and Kingsville, this is the greatest concentration of acreage under glass anywhere in Canada. So to add cannabis to the greenhouse industry is a wonderful thing.”

Paterson has heard complaints from some citizens about smaller marijuana-production facilities, due to odour and the perception of security risks. But he said state-of-the-art marijuana facilities offer a safe, clean industry and good-paying jobs with increased taxes to boot.

Aphria CEO Vic Neufeld called the new partnership with Nuuvera good for his company and the region.