On October 4, 2018, Bevo Agro announced that it had signed an Arrangement Agreement with Sun Pharm for a reverse take-over of Bevo, and announced its intent to change its name to Zenabis Global. Zenabis will have nearly 3.5 million square feet of available production space.
Now, Bevo introduces CubicFarm Systems Corp. (CubicFarms), an agriculture technology business that was developed by the Bevo management team. As part of the Arrangement Agreement cited above, Bevo's ~43% equity ownership in CubicFarms will be spun out to Bevo's existing shareholders, and CubicFarms intends to simultaneously list on the TSXV as a separate company. Zenabis (through Sun Pharm) also holds a stake in CubicFarms that it will retain post-amalgamation. This investment will be held by Zenabis Ventures, Zenabis' wholly-owned cannabis venture platform.
CubicFarms is the developer of patented technology that automates large-scale commercial farming operations in climate controlled growing chambers. By recycling water, each crop uses a fraction of the water required under traditional farming methods. Further, each machine is constructed inside an individually climate controlled growing chamber, allowing optimized climate, lighting, nutrients and other plant-specific needs, leading to faster growing cycles and year-round production. Utilizing CubicFarms' patented "undulating path" conveyor system, all plants are brought to those harvesting and planting, reducing labour significantly and increasing yield per cubic foot compared to other growing systems. CubicFarms currently grows lettuce and leafy greens; microgreens; and basil and herbs. CubicFarms is also exploring cannabis cultivation applications in a joint venture with Zenabis named ZenCube. In addition, CubicFarms is further optimizing the technology for the nutraceutical and animal feed space.
CubicFarms has been building and selling systems since 2016, with its systems shipped from a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. This facility is ramping up production to meet CubicFarms' growing global sales pipeline. CubicFarms operates its own commercial scale CubicFarm system, which it installed this summer in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia. This facility grows and sells a wide variety of leafy greens to the local retail and wholesale market, and also accommodates research and development.
"I am delighted that Zenabis sees the value in automating the growing process and reducing the space and labour requirements through utilizing CubicFarms technology to advance their growing capacity," said Dave Dineson, CEO of CubicFarm Systems Corp. "The joint venture between CubicFarms and Zenabis will make available cannabis-optimized growing machines for global customers who want to lower their growing costs, increase yields, reduce labour, water and energy usage, eliminate pesticides, and enjoy consistent quality growing."
"It's exciting that CubicFarms can expand on its patented technology to enter into a whole new vertical market," said Leo Benne, Chief Growing Officer of Bevo (Zenabis Global). "CubicFarms offers growers unparalleled accuracy and predictability, so that no crop ever goes to waste, while saving money and time by using a fraction of the resources."
"As a leading licensed producer of cannabis, we have long admired the pioneering technology introduced by CubicFarms," said Rick Brar of Sun Pharm Investments, the new CEO of Zenabis. "We look forward to working in partnership to help CubicFarms expand into worldwide markets as Zenabis continues to meet the growing global demand for cannabis."
For more information:
CubicFarms
cubicfarms.com