Glen Herrington wants to start a weed farm, but his neighbours aren’t so sure.

Herrington is applying for a micro-cultivation licence to grow medical cannabis on his 10-acre property in Nasonworth, just south of Fredericton.

If the application is approved, he will be allowed to use 2,150 sq. ft. of his land to grow cannabis, indoors and/or outdoors. Herrington intends to sell his crop to another producer, preferably to make CBD oil, and expects the farm would create five new jobs in the region.

“The licensed product that I grow on this property has to be sold to another licensed producer,” Herrington told CBC News.

But his neighbours aren’t thrilled at the prospect of living near a cannabis farm, citing odour and environmental concerns. “I don’t think it’ll be a lot of fun sitting out on the deck in the summertime having a barbecue and smelling marijuana,” Cory Allen, one of Herrington’s neighbours, speculated.

Allen further noted that the area has “very shallow wells” and he worries that these might be somehow adversely affected by the nearby farm.

As it stands, the farm is far from a sure thing. Herrington is still going through he licence application process and will need to get his property rezoned for the cultivation plan.

That process also involves facing any skeptical neighbours — who have been notified via a letter sent by the Regional Service Commission — at a public meeting.

Allen, who plans to attend the meeting, and has gone door-to-door to encourage neighbours to do the same, wants reassurance. “Assure us that we will not smell the marijuana grow-op and take ownership of the problem, if we do,” he said.

Herrington doesn’t believe the odour emitted by the prospective farm will greatly affect other locals given its distance from other residents. However, he’s far from the first Canadian cannabis farmer to face local opposition over concerns about related odours.

Some of these objections have been expressed despite the fact that some of the neighbours in question live in close proximity to smell-emitting farms such as lavender, beef and poultry. (Nasonworth itself is studded with horse farms.)

The decision regarding Herrington’s rezoning application is expected to be issued in Spring 2020.