Robyn Edie/Stuff
Southern Medicinal executive director Greg Marshall at the Mataura medicinal cannabis production facility.
- Interest from commerce and science graduates in moving back to Southland
- Mataura medicinal cannabis production facility planning expansion
- 2022 NZ Drug Foundation report found only 6% of people who use cannabis medicinally get it legally
A growing medicinal cannabis industry in the south is starting to attract top talent as one business keeps adding staff to its Mataura hub.
Southern Medicinal executive director Greg Marshall is working through details of its possible $2 million application to the government’s Regional Strategic Partnership Fund.
The company is based in the old Mataura paper mill, growing and processing medicinal cannabis and hemp.
Marshall met with a Regional Strategic Partnership Fund (RSPF) representative for a preliminary meeting this week, and has a three-stage, $2m plan to try and attract funding.
READ MORE:
* Mataura’s medicinal cannabis and hemp mill is a big deal
* Former Mataura paper mill to become medicinal cannabis plant
* Medicinal cannabis firm Rua Bioscience opens $20 million offer ahead of listing
* Coronavirus: Medicinal cannabis company could create ‘hundreds of jobs’ in recession
The plan is for $250,000 for a 500m² lab, storage and processing space. Stage 2 would be $750,000 to build capacity during a six-12-month period, and the third stage would be $1m for a nitrogen-injecting canning line.
Marshall said the company had just started a new round of hiring, and already university graduates were expressing interest in coming back to work in Southland.
Commerce and science graduates from local farms who wanted to move home were sending in resumes, Marshall said.
There had been about eight resumes come in from young graduates, and a Gore woman with a Bachelor of Agriculture, specialising in plant science degree had been offered a position; she would be meeting with the company this week, Marshall said.
Robyn Edie/Stuff
Southern Medicinal executive director Greg Marshall at the Mataura medicinal cannabis production facility. [File video]
“In the last month we’ve added eight staff,” Marshall said.
Southern Medicinal had also been working with Southern Institute of Technology students, he said.
The factory was looking to become a Medsafe Good Manufacturing Practice certified facility and the funding could accelerate that, Marshall said.
“Operating a GMP-certified lab and lot release hub in the Mataura mill will enable a range of high value products across the functional food/medicine spectrum,” he said.
Southern Medicinal by the numbers:
- 10,000m² production at Mataura, 30,000m² more next season
- 150 farmers wanted
- 800kg per hectare from farm trials last summer, worth $150 per kilo
- Company aims to dry 50t next April
Southern Medicinal is a partnership between Dunedin-based Natural Horticulture and Christchurch-based medicinal cannabis company Soma Group.
An MBIE spokesperson said no application from the company was being considered at this stage, and “this conversation was a preliminary meeting” to introduce the ministry’s new Southland commercial lead.
Should the company director apply to be considered for $2m from the RSPF, there must be sufficient evidence to show that there is at least a 50% co-funding agreement, the spokesperson said.
The criteria to be considered for the RSPF fell under three main areas: Enabling regional economic and business development, accelerating Māori economic aspirations and supporting sector transformations, the spokesperson said.
A 2022 NZ Drug Foundation report found only 6% of people who use medicinal cannabis are getting it legally.
