The second enterprise planning to grow medical cannabis in St. Stephen hopes to begin production this year -- in a building that also will be used to grow tilapia fish by means of aquaponics. "By June we'll be ready to cultivate," Stewart Farms principal Tanner Stewart says. However, he adds, "This will be very dependent on the government wheels. We'll be ready." The federal health department still has to issue licences to cultivate, harvest and sell under the legal regime for medical marijuana.
     Stewart, who grew up in Miramichi, learned about aquaponics and indoor "vertical" agriculture as a young entrepreneur in Alberta. Aquaponics combines the raising of fish and hydroponics, the soil-less growing of plants, in one integrated system. He originally acquired the former SWP Industries Inc. fence mill property in St. Stephen to raise tilapia, then use the manure to grow organic green vegetables indoors under LED lights without herbicides or pesticides. He decided on January 1, 2018, to switch to medical grade cannabis sold through a doctor's prescription. "We only changed the plant from lettuce to cannabis," he says. He plans to use the same production model.
     Canada legalized cannabis as a recreational drug for adults on October 17, and St. Stephen now has its own Cannabis NB store, but Stewart plans to stick with the medical product. "At any time we can make that decision to lateral over into the recreational market," he says. However, he says, "Stewart Farms is totally focused on becoming a health and wellness company," growing different strains of cannabis to treat Alzheimer's disease, dementia, depression and addiction.
     Tidal Health Solutions Ltd. began producing medical marijuana last year in the same industrial park where Stewart intends to operate. Health Canada granted Tidal Health Solutions a licence to produce on April 13, according to the department's website. The company plans to expand, but president and CEO Barry Katzman declines to say more.
     Katzman welcomes Stewart Farms as neighbours in the industrial park. "I think he's a bright young guy with big visions," he says.
     Health Canada lists 159 commercial cannabis growers in Canada, including three in New Brunswick licenced to cultivate, with about half of these with the final licence to sell. Fewer than six are certified organic growers, Stewart says. He plans to join this select group.
     Charlotte County's location at the heart of a huge aquaculture industry makes St. Stephen a good place to grow tilapia, but he will use only organic feed, Stewart says. He will grow cannabis with fish manure plus organically certified supplements. "There will be about 50 tonnes of extra solid fish waste per year," he says, mulling over composting this with cannabis plant waste to produce "supercharged fertilizer."
     The building where Stewart plans to raise fish and cannabis originally housed a steel foundry before SWP Industries set up shop. He has to completely gut the old structure, replacing even part of the roof and exterior wall panels. As he put it, he bought nearly 30 acres of land, a fence, steel frame and the services to the lot. "It's really a 100‑day continuous build. We're two weeks into it," Stewart says, while Darryl Leger with Avant‑Garde Construction and Management Inc. of Riverview, the company overseeing the job, conducted a site tour. Stewart plans to do the job over four phases, hoping to be ready for initial sales by 2020.
     Leger says 20 to 30 people might work between now and June on construction but not all at the same time. Stewart hopes to have up to 10 people working in St. Stephen in 2019, 30 in 2020, and more than 100 by 2021, plus head office staff in Edmonton, Alberta. "By the time we get the four phases done we'll be up to 12,000 kilograms of organic cannabis per year," along with 200,000 kilograms of tilapia to be exported live to Boston.
     The cannabis will grow on four stories, one on top of the other in the 40‑foot‑high building.
The fish should bring in $1.5 to $1.8 million in revenue each year and cannabis "north of $50 million."
     He has $10 million in capital to date. "That's all private equity from Alberta. A million of that is me," Stewart says. Getting to the end of phase four in 2021 will require more capital, he says. St. Stephen offers low real estate prices, reasonable power rates and an educated labour force ready to work, Stewart says.
     He left Miramichi 13 years ago as a 21‑year‑old and started a construction company in Alberta working in the oil industry. He invested in the Alberta company NutraPonics and served as CEO for five years, producing tilapia and organic leafy vegetables with similar technology to what he plans to use in St. Stephen. He left NutraPonics at the end of 2018 but has made no decision to return to live in New Brunswick. He has other business interests including a construction company in Alberta, and his children, aged three and five, are settled in Edmonton.
     He came to St. Stephen this week for his first look at the construction project -- still in the demolition stage -- and planned a visit to Miramichi before heading back to Edmonton. He expects to bounce between these three communities for the next while. He turns 34 on April 21.