“They all say they want to move home if there’s a decent job,” said Mr. Caddie, 45, referring to people who have left Ruatoria. “So we’re creating some decent jobs, and we’ll see how relevant people’s talk is.”

Many people in Ruatoria say they have stayed because of deep connections to the land and their community. Most speak the Maori language, and many serve at their local marae (a communal meeting place). The unspoiled scenery is ancestral Maori land, much of it now owned by family collectives.

Mr. Caddie, a former district councilor and youth worker, has led community development projects before, but this is his most ambitious. Hikurangi Cannabis, which currently employs 10 people, wants to create 120 jobs in Ruatoria in the next two years and eventually double the town’s income, said Mr. Ehau.

Besides the shares sold to local residents, Hikurangi raised a further two million dollars through crowdfunding, and institutional investors with deeper pockets have also bought in.

The company was the first in New Zealand to obtain a license to breed cannabis strains for eventual use in medicines; currently, it can only sell its product overseas for research and clinical trials while it waits for medicinal cannabis production in New Zealand to become legal. Parliament is expected to pass that legislation by March, though the law would not take effect until 2020. (New Zealand’s government has also promised a referendum on legalizing recreational cannabis use before the 2020 election.)