Marijuana is beginning to account for a noticeable share of “Ontario’s Garden.”

During his state-of-the-county address this week, Mayor Charlie Luke said it is full steam ahead for industrial marijuana production in Norfolk County.

New capacity is being added all the time. Some is devoted to the medicinal market while others are preparing to produce recreational marijuana once it becomes legal in Canada this summer.

Mayor Luke delivered the annual state-of-the-county address during a breakfast meeting Wednesday at the Greens at Renton. The event was sponsored by the Simcoe & District Chamber of Commerce.

In his speech, Luke shared progress reports on three operations representing millions of dollars in investment.

He cited the Gold Leaf Marijuana facility that is taking shape on Grigg Drive in Simcoe. The 20,000-square-foot facility will create 30 jobs and has plans to expand in the future.

Gold Leaf Marijuana will be located in the former Wal-Tech building in the Judd Industrial Park. A tall fence ringed with barbed wire was recently installed around the property.

Luke also mentioned that the Vancouver-based medical marijuana company, Lotus Ventures, has partnered with a tobacco-growing family near Vanessa for an $8-million processing facility.

As well, Maricann is building a 217,000-square-foot greenhouse operation southwest of Langton.

In late April, Health Canada gave the go-ahead to activate 8,800 square feet of this production. The next day, Maricann moved in 2,400 seedlings.

“Our new facility – combined with award-winning genetics – provides Maricann with the ability to supply a superior product to the market,” CEO Ben Ward said this week in a news release.

“This facility could be built in the Arctic or on the equator and still replicate the exact same cannabis every time.”

Several years ago, Norfolk County branded itself as “Ontario’s Garden.”

It did so because Norfolk leads the province and all of Canada in the production of key agricultural commodities. If marijuana is not yet among them, it could be soon given the increasing rate of production.

In the Maricann release, Luke said Norfolk is an ideal location due to the expertise of its farmers and the local workforce.

“I’m quite excited about it and fully confident this industry is here for the long haul,” Luke said.

“We’re going to be so much better off with their successes. It’s jobs, it’s taxes, it’s showing confidence in the county.”

Tuesday, Norfolk council was told that the county is in the midst of a green gold rush.

Chris Baird, Norfolk’s general manager of economic development and culture, said greenhouses are popping up without building permits, while existing greenhouses are being repurposed for the production of marijuana.

Meanwhile, buildings in industrial parks are being converted into marijuana production facilities.

Baird said Norfolk zoning regulations don’t always require growers to notify the county of these changes.

There have been few complaints about industrial facilities in Norfolk that are under the supervision of Health Canada.

However, a second tier of producers are causing friction due to odour concerns. These players produce marijuana on behalf of medicinal users, who also have a licence to grow their own. Third-party growers are also proliferating faster than Norfolk can track them.

Baird said that there are more than 10 locations in Norfolk where residents chronically complain about the skunk-like odour that attends marijuana production. He told council that enforcement could be a problem once an odour bylaw is in place due to staffing levels.

“It’s being grown absolutely everywhere,” Baird said. “Last year, we didn’t know what was out there. Now we’re overwhelmed.

“And we haven’t even got people growing marijuana in their homes for recreational purposes yet. The scale in Norfolk County is exceptional. It’s such a lucrative opportunity that people are growing it everywhere.”