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The donated pots and propagation trays are used for cloning cannabis plants that are among the 7,000 kilograms of medical marijuana being grown at the company’s central Alberta facility annually.

And the expertise, said Battley, will acquaint the Grow Calgary farmers with some of the latest practices in pesticide-free agriculture, using so-called ‘good bugs’ for pest control as well as other cutting edge cultivation tools.

Grow Calgary founder Paul Hughes said the operation, run by volunteers on 4.5 hectares of land west of Canada Olympic Park, is almost completely reliant on donations from individuals and organizations, so the bounty in both material and expertise pledged by Aurora will be a huge boost.

“This is one of the single largest contributions we’ve had to the growing side of what we do,” Hughes said.

“We’ve also go a lot of young people who don’t have a lot of formal growing experience, so the fact that they’re sharing their expertise in growing and plant biology in the long run may be more beneficial than the actual materials.

“They’re the NASA of plant biology.”

Now going into its fifth growing season since launching in 2013, Hughes said he expects the operation will fill about 500 truckloads of donated produce to 20 agencies that help the less fortunate. That annual yield of some 30 different vegetables comes from about 2 million seeds in the ground.

Battley added Aurora is also looking to donate rich and chemical-free compost to the Calgary growers as part of the donation.

Aurora, which already operates a 55,200 sq.-ft. legal medical marijuana operation in Cremona, has begun building a massive facility at Edmonton International Airport the size of 10 Canadian football fields, which would make it the largest such operation on the planet.

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