Building a future for medical cannabis in Australia

Cann Group is a world-class medical cannabis company, focussed on cultivating, manufacturing and supplying high quality medical cannabis products to patients in Australia and beyond.

In 2017 Cann Group was granted Australia’s first Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Research Licences. They chose Mildura to build their $120 million facility because the region boasts an established horticultural and manufacturing base, a sizable population, a skilled workforce, a pipeline of local university graduates and the right natural resources for sustainable production.

Now, Cann is pushing the boundaries of protected cropping and GMP pharmaceutical manufacture. Cann is implementing solar and irrigation systems that tackle energy consumption and water usage sustainably; and they are helping put Mildura on the global map as a leader in advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Cann Group’s state-of-the-art facility incorporates microclimate-controlled glasshouse cultivation space, and 12,000sqm of processing and support facilities – including large-scale GMP manufacture of medicinal cannabis projects, as well as analytical chemistry and biology laboratories.

The facility has been constructed to expand as requirement relative to market demands. At maximum capacity, Cann is able to house 34,000sqm of cultivation space.

In 2017, Cann Group became the first in Australia to be granted a commercial cultivation license, making it the first holder of both a commercial cultivation and research license.

When deciding where to build their custom facility, key factors included the abundance of both land and sunlight available in Mildura. In their advanced greenhouse environment, Cann note that “greater levels of photosynthetically-active light make the energy savings considerable”.

“The local wine and fruit industries have an established talent pool of skilled workers and accompanying support services, especially in engineering and recruitment – everything needed to run a facility like ours.”

“We’ve also had great support from local government bodies and representatives, and Regional Development Victoria. The presence of Latrobe University and SuniTafe in Mildura has meant that the strong academic links Cann has built in Melbourne can be carried to the Mildura site.”

“Mildura is a great regional centre with key services in place thanks to the strong agricultural and food production industries. It’s a great place to do business – giving you multiple options for sourcing services and materials, as well as a strong base of experienced labour. The local staff are really focused. They have a can-do attitude without sacrificing quality of work and our vision is to become an employer of choice in the region.”