Harvest Health & Recreation, Inc., a cannabis company with one of the largest footprints in the United States, announced in November it had acquired San Felasco Nurseries LLC.

A Phoenix, Arizona-based cannabis cultivator and distributor has acquired Alachua County-based San Felasco Nurseries.

Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., a cannabis company with one of the largest footprints in the United States, announced in November it had acquired San Felasco Nurseries LLC, striking a deal operators say has led them to more cultivation space and will allow them the possibility of opening 25 new dispensaries in Florida.

The whopping $65 million deal, which was paid in cash and stocks and nearly $2 million in assumption of debt, included the nursery’s prized medical cannabis dispensary license and authorization to operate as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center in the state of Florida, which means it can produce, process and dispense medical cannabis and cannabis products.

Harvest's stock recently began being publicly traded in Canada, which led to the company raising $220 million.

The San Felasco deal also included 8,000 square feet of cultivation space. Staff will remain with the nursery, despite the acquisition, to grow and maintain Harvest’s cannabis production in Alachua County.

It currently employs about 24 people, said Ben Kimbro, Harvest’s director of business development. But new jobs could come if Harvest adds more cultivation space to its greenhouse at 7315 NW 126th St. in Alachua.

Kimbro said the company, which was founded in 2011, was excited about the deal in Alachua County, saying it represents a huge opportunity for the company’s growth in Florida.

But he said its growth of medical cannabis in Alachua County will depend on “what the market tells us.”

“We’re only going to grow as much as our customers need,” Kimbro said. “We’re not going to grow a surplus. It’s about striking a balance with our patients."

Kimbro said the company is vertically integrated, meaning it grows its own cannabis and handles all its production and sales. He said he’s not certain as of Tuesday whether it will open up a dispensary in Gainesville.

With the acquisition in Alachua County, Harvest’s footprint now includes more than 40 licenses in 10 states and the company has grown to 425 employees.

“This move comes with the objective to increase (production) and bring to Florida new, innovative technologies and products,” Kimbro said. “And we’re finding out ways to increase our retail footprint.”

Harvest’s acquisition marks the third acquisition of Alachua County-based medical cannabis licenses and cultivators within the last two years.

Toronto-based Liberty Health Sciences, a medical cannabis investor and operator that launched in 2011, closed a deal Feb. 16 to purchase 242 Cannabis, a subsidiary of medical cannabis company 242 Cannabis Canada — a $6 million deal which included a 387-acre parcel north of Gainesville, southeast of Brooker, and its licenses.

The company, which bought almost 400 acres’ worth of properties in Alachua County within the last year, has begun mass-producing cannabis products, clearing the way for the county to be at the forefront of a booming Florida medical cannabis market.

The land purchased in February near 18770 N. County Road 225 had been owned by Alico Citrus Nursery, which shut down production in Gainesville last year.

Liberty purchased the 36-acre Chestnut Hill Tree Farm nursery last year for $36.2 million.

Liberty Health Sciences is retrofitting more than 200,000 square feet of greenhouse space. It plans on creating edible cannabis products and automating its growing and planting processes.

Additionally, medical cannabis is now being tested in Alachua County by third-party labs like Evio Labs, 2444 NE First Blvd. and Botanica Testing Inc.

Kimbro said the medical cannabis industry could see even more growth after President Donald Trump’s signing of the Farm Bill, in which one prong of the legislation legalized hemp on a federal level.

Hemp, a product of cannabis, is used to make Cannabidiol, or CBD, an oil extract that has a calming and pain relief effect on its users, without the psychoactive effects of THC.