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For years and years, the automotive sector was the economic bread and butter for MAC Coatings, a Windsor producer and supplier of paints and surface coatings to the city’s main industry.

Then came the greenhouse boom in the county, and the company with city roots stretching back to 1892 pivoted to this new business opportunity.

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And now comes a brand new industry — cannabis. MAC Coatings is pivoting again.

“It’s absolutely huge for us,” account executive Steve Koski said of pot’s early impact on his company’s fortunes.

This is just the beginning … the economic opportunities for this region are huge

Farmers have long relied on his company for painting everything from tractors to packing warehouses, but now, said Koski, successful third-generation tomato farmers are eyeing the immense potential being unleashed by an agricultural product that was only legalized for recreational use a few weeks ago.

Photo by Doug Schmidt / Windsor Star

Like tomatoes, cannabis-growing greenhouses need “extremely clean facilities,” said Koski, and that means floors, ceilings, pipes (many kilometres per greenhouse operation) and pretty much any other structural element need to be coated. That’s MAC’s job, and Koski said the company has seen a big new demand and is currently churning out 5,000 gallons of product a shift.