Village Farms CEO Explains $15 M Raise + The CMS CBD Pilot
In today’s Trade To Black Podcast presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell break down the first full trading day of Trulieve (NYSE: TCNNF) following its uplisting. We recap how the stock traded, where volume concentrated, and the main takeaway from Day One price action. In Segment One, Michael DeGiglio, CEO of Village Farms (NASDAQ: VFF; TSX: VFF) joins us to address last week’s announcement of a $15 million registered direct investment priced near $2. In Segment Two, we continue our weekly Vantage Standard series with Vantage Hemp CEO Rusty Kuchta and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Shields. This episode outlines the full operational workflow behind the CMS CBD pilot — compliant sourcing, pharmaceutical‑grade manufacturing, ACO integration, and measurable patient outcomes.
The Trade to Black podcast, hosted by Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell and presented by FlowHub, opened its Wednesday episode with a look at Trulieve’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock traded roughly 712,000 shares — approximately $7 to $8 million worth — on its first day.
Village Farms CEO Michael DeGiglio addresses investor concerns over the company’s recent $15 million capital raise, which was structured at a price that prompted questions from retail shareholders. DeGiglio was clear that the raise was not driven by a need for cash — Village Farms has operated profitably on a sequential basis and self-funded major expansions including a 33 percent increase in its Vancouver cultivation footprint and a €30 million Netherlands facility.
In the second segment, we return to the ongoing CMS CBD pilot program with Vantage Hemp CEO Rusty Kuchta and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul Shields. Dr. Shields outlined what genuine day-one readiness looks like for an Accountable Care Organization entering the pilot: electing the benefit enhancement in CMS’s system, submitting an implementation plan, waiting up to 60 days for CMS approval, and then identifying appropriate patients — particularly those with peripheral neuropathy — using EHR data, claims history, and care navigation programs. He noted that four months’ notice before the April launch was, by his assessment, an almost impossible implementation window for lean-running organizations.
Both Kuchta and Dr. Shields stressed that the broader industry is underestimating the complexity of integrating cannabinoid therapies into Medicare-aligned care pathways. Awareness at ACO conferences has been low, with many attendees unaware that cannabis has been rescheduled or that the pilot program exists. Kuchta argued that the CBD pilot is a critical on-ramp not just for CBD but for cannabis entering the pharmaceutical mainstream: once payers accept CBD, it flows onto pharmacy shelves, into big-box retail, and ultimately toward the 69 million Americans on Medicare. Dr. Shields added that while combination broad-spectrum therapies will eventually produce better clinical outcomes, the pilot’s mandate is isolated CBD, and generating clean real-world data now — using Vantage’s pharmaceutical-grade, 99-percent-pure product — is what will validate the next phase of cannabinoid integration into value-based care.
This and more when you tune in
