Business
Village Farms Announces Leli Holland's Receipt of Final Cultivation License and Majority Ownership of 85% of Leli Holland
– Village Farms Will Contribute to Reshaping the Future of Recreational Cannabis in the Netherlands, the First Major European Country to Permit Large Scale
About this update from Village Farms International, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"– Village Farms Will Contribute to Reshaping the Future of Recreational Cannabis in the Netherlands, the First Major European Country to Permit Large Scale Cultivation and Distribution of Recreational Cannabis – \nVANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Village Farms International, Inc. (\"Village Farms\" or the \"Company\") (NASDAQ: VFF) today announced Leli Holland B.V. (\"Leli Holland\") has been granted the tenth and final license to cultivate cannabis legally in the Netherlands (the \"License\") under the Dutch Closed Supply Chain Experiment program (the \"Dutch Program\"), which is expected to be commence operating next year. Subsequently, Village Farms completed acquisition of 85% of privately held Leli Holland under its previously announced purchase option agreement, enabling Village Farms to directly participate as a Netherlands-based cultivator and distributor of cannabis in the Dutch Program, under which the Netherlands will become the first major European country to permit large scale cultivation and distribution of recreational cannabis.\nThe Dutch Program is intended to evaluate determine whether and how controlled cannabis can be legally supplied to existing retailers (known as \"coffee shops\") and what the effects of such would be, specifically in the context of concerns around public order and safety, public health and crime amidst the current Dutch cannabis policy, which tolerates the sale and use of cannabis for recreational purposes but prohibits production and distribution to coffee shops.\n\"We are so proud to come home to the Netherlands as one of just ten companies that will be licensed to cultivate recreational cannabis and distribute high quality cannabis products to coffee shops in the Netherlands,\" said Michael DeGiglio, CEO Village Farms. \"Village Farms has a long, rich history in the Netherlands and majority ownership of Leli will allow for direct and meaningful participation in the Dutch Program and contribute to reshaping the future of recreational cannabis in the Netherlands. Village Farms' Vice President of European Cannabis, Orville Bovenschen, born and raised in the Netherlands, will lead our cannabis venture there, splitting his time between our head office in Orlando and the Netherlands. We look forward, to bringing our deep expertise and decades of experience in the design, constructi...