Greater Shepparton may be known for its stone fruit and dairy production, but more recently it attracted the attention of an Australian company looking to increase production of its niche commodity: medicinal cannabis.

In 2020, Cannatrek began building a $160 million state-of-the-art production facility in Shepparton. The facility includes outdoor and indoor production with 160,000m² of growing area under a high-technology glasshouse. It also includes a post-harvest facility, an extraction plant and packaging, storage and national distribution centre.

When operating at full production, the company aims to produce 160 tonnes of medicinal cannabis per year, which will make it one of the world’s largest facilities.

Ideal production environment

Cannatrek operations manager Damien Byrne said the Greater Shepparton region has perfect microclimates for agricultural production.

“The region has some of the longest sunshine hours within Australia which are ideal for growing medicinal cannabis, with a good supply of water for irrigation and fertile soils,” he said.

“The supply of quality water is one of the key critical factors to optimum growing conditions. Here in the Greater Shepparton area we have a reliable source of water to grow our medicinal cannabis.”

Damien also enjoys living and working in the region and said the Shepparton community provides a great work-life balance which maximises the opportunities of living in regional Victoria.

Local support system

The new facility will create more than 400 jobs for the region upon its completion.

Cannatrek is keen to build local capacity in Greater Shepparton to harness different skillsets in agri-technology and recruit talented employees who are keen to be a part of a specialist workforce. Yurringa, a 100% Aboriginal owned and led recruitment company, also sources specialist employees with knowledge of the land and plant medicine.

When setting up the facility, Cannatrek received support from a range of local businesses, service providers and contractors including:

  • Greater Shepparton City Council
  • GROW Greater Shepparton
  • CAF Consulting
  • ADM Packaging Automation
  • CA Group Services
  • Bugs for Bugs
  • Powerplants
  • Steelcorp Building Systems
  • Waterform Technologies
  • Watters Electrical.

These businesses helped Cannatrek to continue its journey to become a sustainable domestic enterprise powered by ‘green’ energy such as solar and hydrogen and low emissions production.

“The Shepparton area has a strong agricultural, horticultural and manufacturing centre. This provides Cannatrek with a strong base of skillsets already developed in the area to service our horticultural and manufacturing aspects of our business,” Damien said.