MURRABIT West’s ECS Botanics has taken centre stage in the emerging Australian cannabis industry, scooping three coveted awards at the inaugural Cannabiz awards.
Only licenced in 2020, the business was named Best Place to Work and Cultivator/Manufacturer of the Year.
Chief executive Nan-Maree Schoerie was named Business Leader of the Year.
The judges said: “Leaders’ tasks can change every minute, but the attitude and manner in which they are executed demonstrate the values they hold.
“Nan-Maree represents an extremely compassionate, caring and determined leader who ensures that business is not just what it says on the balance sheet.”
Ms Schoerie said the ECS Botanics team were overwhelmed by the three successes, affirming their three years of hard work to get the farm-based enterprise up and running.
She said they bought 175 acres in 2019 but the cannabis farm only occupies about 15 acres at the heart of the holding, creating a buffer from neighbours.
“We run an outdoor crop as well as a significant number of plants in plastic tunnels, where we have the potential to harvest at least two times a year,” Ms Schoerie said.
“At ECS Botanics we are committed to producing the healthiest crops possible, and from where we sit, that means good soil, sun, wind and rain – in fact I believe we are one of only two producers in the country doing things that way.
“When we started out in 2020 we had five full-time staff (including her) and now we have about 67 on the books; supported by backpackers and PALM workers during harvest.
“There is no great mechanisation available to our industry at the moment, so we are very labour intensive, and every flower on every plant needs to be hand harvested, trimmed and processed.”
If you were ever confused about which part of the cannabis sativa is the business bit – always seeing fields of soaring, bushy plants with that oh-so-familiar leaf profile and bales of rooted up plants being destroyed in massive pyres – it has nothing to do with the leaves.
Ms Schoerie said it was all about the flower.
The best and biggest of them will be processed and packed in jars, to be used for inhalation, while the rest go into manufacturing cannabis oil.
She said demand for the products was growing across Australia and starting to gain some serious traction among medical practitioners.
Ms Schoerie said uses included the treatment of patients with pain, cancer and nervous system ailments such as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, as well as young children suffering multiple daily seizures with epilepsy.
“We specialise in cultivating high-quality, increasingly affordable cannabis, which after drying and curing, is supplied as trimmed flower for inhalation, or extracted into resin for further formulation or manufacturing,” she said.
“All our products are EU GMP certified and suitable for export to the majority of countries with a medicinal cannabis program.
“We are also constantly advancing our own research and development agenda, while still collaborating with strategic partners on new product development, unique genetics for cultivation, clinical research and new market entry.”
The ECS Botanics range includes both sativa and indica dominance, 18 to 25 per cent THC, balanced CBD:THC, and CBD only.
“The flower is specifically intended for medical use or further processing in GMP licensed extraction facilities, and ECS can formulate a range of off-the-shelf and bespoke formulations to suit customer needs,” Ms Schoerie said.
