Inside an ultra-secure location in South Australia one of the country's biggest medicinal cannabis farms is harvesting its first crop.
Third-generation citrus grower Brad Gallard, who is at the helm of the multi-million-dollar MedTec Pharma operation in the Riverland region, said it had taken almost five years to get to where he was and he was yet to make a cent.
After exploring the viability of several other crops, including hemp, he decided to push forward with medicinal cannabis. "The latitude of 34 degrees is really what cannabis does like, there's obviously certain strains that can do a colder climate, or more humid climates," he said.
Aside from the opportunities of an in-demand industry, Mr Gallard said the decision to move into plant medicine was personal. "My father had Parkinson's disease and my mum had scleroderma and ulcers … and they tried a bit of their product just after it was legal and saw a reasonable result for at least a few days," he said.
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