Canadian company begins producing medical cannabis in Alentejo

Canadian company Tilray has revealed that it has leased 20 hectares of land near Évora to an agricultural company by the name of Esporão, in order to produce medicinal cannabis, which was planted last month, in July. The agreement for these 20 hectares of outdoor land in the Alentejo, signed between Tilray Portugal, a subsidiary of the Canadian company, and Esporão, was revealed last week.

“The additional 20 hectares of outdoor growing space increase the company’s ability to supply medical cannabis in Europe and other international markets” Tilray Portugal said in a statement.

The company is a “world pioneer in the research, cultivation, production and distribution of medicinal cannabis”, and has another five hectares of land and a facility near Coimbra for production, processing and research.

“With this agreement with Esporão, we get 20 hectares more for outdoor planting” Tilray’s source revealed, expressing that the planting “was already done successfully in July” and that “the harvest should happen in late September or early October.”

According to Tilray, Esporão is “one of the largest and most sophisticated agricultural companies in Portugal” and will provide “operational and technical support to a team of experts” from the Canadian group, “including horticulturists, growers and quality managers”.

The produce from the growing site in the Alentejo will then be transported to the facility near Coimbra for “processing, production and distribution throughout Europe and other international markets.”

Sascha Mielcarek, one of Tilray’s European managers, expressed pride in increasing the company’s ability to “produce high quality cannabis medical products in Europe using innovative outdoor growing methods”.

Both companies made it clear that the agreement was a result of collaboration. “We feel that the agricultural knowledge and experience in the Alentejo of Esporão, as well as Tilray’s global cannabis experience, has potential for long-term value creation,” revealed Esporão in a statement.

The production of medicinal cannabis is not being done on the main estate, but on another company property nearby, “leased by Tilray Portugal exclusively for this purpose.”

“Esporão’s business will continue to be exclusively the production, marketing and distribution of wines and olive oils,” argued the Alentejo Company.

Tilray was the first medical cannabis producer to successfully import medical cannabis products into the European Union and the first licensed medical cannabis producer in North America to obtain GMP certification according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) standards.

The Cantanhede factory near Coimbra is the first in the country to produce medicinal cannabis and is expected to secure 200 jobs by the end of the year. It represents a total investment of 20 million Euros.