Canadian cannabis producer Pure Sunfarms cuts 27 jobs

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Pure Sunfarms, the cannabis unit of U.S. and Canadian produce company Village Farms International, cut more than two dozen positions, MJBizDaily has learned.

It’s the first time British Columbia-based Pure Sunfarms has laid off workers, which is a rarity among Canadian cannabis mass-producers.

Pure Sunfarms competitors such as Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth and Tilray Brand fired thousands of workers during the pandemic amid mounting losses and government subsidies.

“This morning we made the difficult decision to remove 27 positions across the company,” Pure Sunfarms CEO Mandesh Dosanjh said in a statement to MJBizDaily.

The CEO said cannabis industry growth rates are still strong “but are leveling off.”

“We are proactively managing our cost structure and efficiencies in alignment with our business strategy,” Dosanjh said.

The CEO added that the changes do not impact the company’s production capabilities or planned innovations in 2022 and 2023.

In August, Pure Sunfarms reported net income of 2.5 million dollars ($1.8 million) for its second quarter.

According to a recent research note by Toronto-based BMO Capital Markets, citing data from analytics company HiFyre, Pure Sunfarms and its subsidiary Rose LifeScience held the No. 1 market share position in September in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Shares of B.C.-based Village Farms trade as VFF on the Nasdaq exchange.

Matt Lamers can be reached at matt.lamers@mjbizdaily.com.