Growing cannabis has long been associated with scruffy hippies getting high on their supply in an unorganized underground economy rather than shiny white industrial farms. It was not uncommon for larger-scale operations to lack formal recordkeeping or minimal quality control. Nevertheless, the cannabis industry is becoming more professional as legal medical – and increasingly recreational – get cannabis grow licence in canada becomes more prevalent. It adopts plant science and analytical chemistry methods and rigor to produce a high-quality and safe product for a rapidly growing and lucrative market.
The cannabis industry has grown so large that researchers at the University of Guelph, Canada, have discovered they need to use modern horticulture science. The same standards must be met by commercial producers for other consumer products of get cannabis grow licence in Canada, even if they grow illicit cannabis on a small scale and can get away with vague strain descriptions and considerable variation between batches.
Besides producing a reliable product, they must also follow the stringent laws and regulations governing product labeling and safety in their country. Growing crops commercially requires homogeneous soil and consistent irrigation, so Zheng says that the greenhouse industry can offer solutions to many of the challenges associated with large-scale cannabis production.
If the crop dries out at a different rate, pathogenic agents can spread, and root rot can develop, resulting in an inconsistent product. Cannabis growers can easily benefit from the experience of growing tens to hundreds of hectares of tomatoes at a time in the tomato industry, for example. As he says, marijuana is just another crop. The commercial flower and vegetable industries have been working on similar problems for decades and have the technology. But cannabis has its issues.
To achieve the most efficient production, growers must research under controlled conditions to determine how plant genetics and growing conditions affect the product. He is one of many laboratories supporting and guiding cannabis producers in this effort. In his research, he looks into how light intensity and wavelength affect tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabis’ main psychoactive component.
By increasing the amount of ultraviolet light, for example, it is possible to boost tetrahydrocannabinol levels. He says we aim to create a lighting recipe that will help producers produce a consistent product. In the cannabis industry, techniques and technologies developed by commercial agriculturalists and horticulturists are rapidly being adopted by cannabis companies.
In Moncton, Canada, Organigram, a cannabis producer, strictly controls the growing process, according to Jeff Purcell, the company’s vice president of operations. According to him, we have full control of the air, light, temperature, and fertilizer in our growing environment. It’s all highly automated and computerized.