MARIJUANA MAKES WAY FOR NEW GROW OPPORTUNITY

Longtime Supplier to Pot Growers Reinvents Itself to Satisfy Demand
for Legal Herbs

VANCOUVER - One of B.C.'s most successful hydroponic suppliers is
transitioning from building marijuana-growing equipment to servicing
aficionados of an entirely different class of herbs, mainly basil and
microgreens.

BC Northern Lights has built and sold more than 8,000 hydroponic
growing systems over its 10 years in business, products targeted to
the marijuana home grower, according to junior partner Myles Omand.
The new spinoff, Urban Cultivator, is targeting professional kitchens
and well-moneyed consumers who want the best and the freshest herbs
and greens possible.

The change comes just in time for the company to launch itself into
the mainstream -and the locavore zeitgeist -with an exhibit at Eat!
Vancouver in June. Today, owner Tarren Wolfe will pitch Urban
Cultivator to the tough-talking entrepreneurs of CBC's Dragons' Den,
who may decide to invest their own money in the company's expansion if
they like what they hear and see.

"We are totally pumped and fully prepared," said Wolfe of the TV
pitch. He and his team landed in Toronto on the weekend with
cultivators and lush flats of legal herbs.

If the Dragons bite, the Surrey-based firm might just be the next big
thing.

Wolfe and company have the colourful backstory. The Northern Lights
website is all about the bud, with a staff directory of stoners and
party animals.

By contrast, the Urban Cultivator site is slick, hightech and full of
images of clean metal commercial kitchens and upscale homes, smiling
kids and moms.

"We are transitioning," confirmed Omand. "We have been the leader in
our industry, and no bull about it we were mainly geared toward the
medicinal marijuana market, but we thought why not rebrand ourselves.

"Some people have moral objections to dealing with a company like
that," he said.

The company's new home and commercial-scale hydroponic appliances
range from seven feet tall and four feet wide to compact
bar-fridge-sized units designed to fit seamlessly into a home kitchen.

The Kitchen Cultivator comes as a free-standing unit topped with a
butcher block, or it can be installed under the counter, hooked up to
drainage, water and electricity just like a dishwasher.

Urban Cultivator has formed partnerships and supply deals with a
number of top hotels and restaurants including Whistler's Four
Seasons, Burnaby's Pear Tree and C in Vancouver.

"It's essentially a living spice rack and you don't have to worry
about refrigeration or wilting," Omand said. Chefs and home cooks can
cultivate basil, parsley, marjoram, chives, arugula and Asian greens.

The commercial machines are built-in appliances designed to churn out
fresh herbs, lettuces and microgreens. Rather than fuss with seeds and
maintenance time, chefs prefer to have the Urban Cultivator team
deliver growing trays preloaded with seeds. Lights, fans and watering
are automated in the built-in units.

Home users should expect to do 15 minutes of planting, feeding and
maintenance a week to maintain a continuous supply of greens, Omand
explained. While commercial units cost as much as $6,000, a Kitchen
Cultivator costs $2,000 for the built-in and $2,200 for the
stand-alone.

The residential cultivator can produce about $1,000 worth of herbs and
greens a year.

"The return on investment depends on what you are growing, but the
commercial unit pays for itself in about a year," Omand said. "The
home unit takes about two years."

BC Northern Lights hydroponic marijuana equipment pays for itself in
just a few months. "But the value of the crop is much higher," he said.