A Delta greenhouse has just been given the green light to grow pot - and it could be just one of many.

BC Tweed will start growing pot at the SunSelect greenhouse in East Ladner.

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A joint venture with a firm called Canopy, creating the new company called BC Tweed, Health Canada issued an approval on Feb. 16 to grow medical marijuana in advance of the legalization of recreational cannabis. According to reports, a huge shipment of plants has arrived from Ontario under tight security to be cultivated in SunSelect's greenhouse in the Fraser Valley. The Delta facility on Hornby Drive is to grow cannabis later this year, which will likely include recreational cannabis.

BC Tweed is now on Health Canada's list of producers who have been issued a licence, bringing the total number issued in B.C. to 19. All licenses issued by Health Canada are under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. Only producers who are authorized to produce and sell to the public may sell or provide dried marijuana, fresh marijuana, cannabis oil, or starting materials to eligible persons.

As far as recreational pot, the federal government has delayed the legalization of non-medical cannabis, but people could start buying it by August.

Meanwhile, Emerald Health has an application to Health Canada for the Pure Sunfarms facility in East Ladner. Pure Sunfarms is a partnership between Emerald and the massive Village Farms greenhouse operation. Conversion of first quadrant of 1.1 million square feet of greenhouse space is already underway. Pure Sunfarms also optioned from Village Farms an additional 3.7 million square feet of greenhouse space in the same Delta complex. In early October, Health Canada granted approval of Emerald’s second site application for its Saanich facility.

In an interview last week, Delta Mayor Lois Jackson expressed dismay that Delta’s farmland could be converted to lucrative recreational pot production, striking a major blow for Canada's food security. She said the product should be cultivated in industrial zones. However, the province hasn't given the city the regulatory authority to keep the activity out of farmland, nor has the government indicated it will enact legislation to keep the cultivation out of the ALR.

In a statement to the Optimist, the agriculture ministry said, "There are still many decisions to be made which are dependent on having better clarity regarding federal legislation and regulation, including those around the production of recreational marijuana, both in and outside of the ALR."