ECS Botanics has lodged plans with the Office of Drug Control (ODC) and signed leases with farmers to expand cultivation at its Tasmanian operation by 100 times its current area.
The company, which plans to expand its cultivation area from 2,500 square metres (sqm) to 320,000 sqm, said the move lays the foundation for it to become a global leader in regulated medicinal cannabis products and the distribution of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Future production from the sites will include the fulfilment of biomass, oil and isolate markets with the opportunity to supply terpenes and other non-psychoactive cannabinoids.
The company said its mission was to make the project and Tasmania “the global epicenter of high-quality, low-cost cannabis production, with plans to supply its APIs to the medicinal market and the EU novel food market”.
ECS Botanics managing director Alex Keach added: “This expansion plan is big thinking and a first in Australia, it will enable multiplication of revenues while becoming a world-class cultivator and manufacturer.
“This part of the strategy enables ECS to grow into the ever-increasing demand for cannabis extracts and APIs.
“We have immense confidence in this next step of agriculturalising and industrialising cannabis following the success of our commercial size trial crop in Tasmania.”
