The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food and the Utah Division of Purchasing have selected eight companies to participate in Utah’s Medical Cannabis Cultivation Program.

“I want to personally thank all the businesses and individuals who participated in this process,” said Kerry W. Gibson, commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. “Our committee spent hundreds of hours reviewing 81 applications to make sure they selected the top producers who will deliver a high-quality, safe product for Utahns.” Regarding the awardees, Gibson continued, “Half of the awardees already have existing businesses in Utah and the other half are out of state but have Utah ties. All grows will be located in Utah. Seven of the proposed sites are in rural areas and one is in an urban area.”

The department has decided to award eight licenses, though the Utah Medical Cannabis Act allows up to ten licenses, said Andrew Rigby, Director of Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Programs, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. “The decision to only award eight licenses was made to avoid an oversupply of product, while still maintaining a healthy diversity of cultivators for purposes of competition of product quality and patient pricing.”

Cannabis program staff will spend the next several days reviewing the scope of the contracts with prospective licensees and reviewing other details.

“While these eight have been selected, the final approval of their licenses are still pending the completion of the background checks and compliance with other aspects of the law and rules,” said Melissa Ure, Senior Policy Analyst, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

The eight selected cultivators are in alphabetical order:

• Dragonfly Greenhouse
• Harvest of Utah
• Oakbridge Greenhouses
• Standard Wellness Utah
• True North of Utah
• Tryke Companies Utah
• Wholesome Ag.
• Zion Cultivars

The Utah Division of Purchasing provided great leadership and support through the Request for Proposals Process.

“We appreciate the time and effort that went into all of the applications,” said David Bundy, Utah Division of Purchasing. “Our evaluation committee reviewed every vendor and every document that was submitted to us independently. Each evaluator came to their own conclusions. We then met as a committee and discussed every vendor and their qualifications. Ultimately we decided on 8 highly qualified offerors the evaluation committee determined would be the best fit for the needs of the patients of Utah.”

Visit the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food’s website for more information.