B.C. cannabis producer brings in 'largest harvest in Canadian history'

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A B.C. cannabis farm is about to enjoy the fruits of its labour.

SpeakEasy Cannabis Company in Rock Creek, B.C., is currently processing what may be the largest legal outdoor harvest in Canadian, if not North American, history. Workers are expected to collect around 70,000 kilograms of pot over the next few weeks from 60,000 marijuana plants sprawled across 24 hectares of land, according to CBC News.

“As far as we know, as best we can tell, this will be the largest harvest in Canadian history,” said SpeakEasy founder Marc Geen. He believes it also eclipses any legal operation south of the border because U.S. regulations do not allow for unlimited plant canopy.

Geen’s secret? “It really comes down to the climate,” said the farmer, who is able to produce vast amounts of product outside without relying on costly greenhouses and the other equipment needed to shield plants from the environment. “The temperatures are perfect. They are not 40 degrees plus. They are 32 degrees to 35 degrees through the summer (and) very, very dry.”

Geen hails from a family of farmers that has been tending the lush land in the Okanagan for five generations. He applied to Health Canada seven years ago for a licence to grow medical — and then recreational — marijuana and received approval for its first outdoor grow last Spring. Now, the company’s 80 or so employees are hard at work bringing in the buds.

“I think it’s really good for the community,” said Isis Morrison, a field worker who lost her main source of income with the arrival of COVID-19. “I, personally, because of COVID, wouldn’t have a job without this wonderful place.”

Most of the vast yield of marijuana will be sold as dried flower with the rest set to be processed into oil for tinctures and vape pens. “Getting this to where it is now with everything that it took to get here, personally, it’s an emotional thing,” Geen said. “It has taken so much effort and so much time.

“It is amazing to see it here.”

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