Success of 'cana-business' relies on efficient commercial greenhouse technology

With two out of three Americans living in a state where there is some form of access to medical or recreational marijuana, commercial cultivation of cannabis has seen a huge increase over the last couple of years. But how efficient are current cultivation technologies of a former black market industry that is literally just coming out of the closet?

At the Indoor Ag-Con exhibition in Las Vegas, Damian Solomon of MedMen was speaking about the use of efficient commercial greenhouse technology in cannabis cultivation. Solomon works for MedMen, a California based management services company and investment manager for the legal cannabis industry. He has an impressive track record in the commercial horticulture space, working both as a grower and a consultant. Prior to joining MedMen, he was the key account manager for Monsanto's high tech vegetable brand of De Ruiter Seeds. 

Solomon uses his knowledge and experience from the commercial greenhouse industry to develop the most efficient production systems for commercial cannabis cultivation. He said that the legalization has taken cannabis crops out of a black market basement setting into a commercial setting. There is no legacy grow system or standard type of cultivation and production system, many people are doing something completely different, whether it is open field, tunnels, warehouses or greenhouses. There is a misuse of pesticides and fertilizers and companies are overpaying for their supplies that still come from hydrostores who only offer products tailored to home growers.

"You will be surprised how inefficient a lot of the current commercial cannabis companies are", said Solomon when kicking off his presentation. "A lot of people have no clue how inefficient they are. They spend too much on wrong supplies and technology and simply don't care since they are making enough money. For now. Because wholesale cannabis prices are dropping, the market is slowly getting under pressure and soon a lot of companies will be confronted with their extreme high costs of production." 

MedMen offers a turnkey franchising solution for the cannabis space, from licensing to growing and even marketing. The company has been investigating how to grow commercial cannabis in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Incorporating practices from common food production systems is key for this. MedMen is inspired by the competitive food sector, where produce is a commodity product that has to be grown against the lowest cost possible. 

Solomon explained that this approach is required, as the current first wave of cannabis systems require a lot of manual labor. Crops are exposed to pests and diseases (when grown in open fields or tunnels, as in California happens.) The plant densities are not sufficient and there is a lack of automation to create consistent quality. For MedMen, the solution lies in controlled environment agriculture, with the use of sophisticated grow spaces and greenhouse technology. They are translating the method from commercial glasshouse crops like tomatoes or orchids towards cannabis. Think about using technologies like diffused glass, rolling benches, ebb and flow systems, a high level of automation, precision controls for irrigation, growing on gutters and advanced climate technology. 

"If you want to survive in the commercial cannabis space, efficiency will be key. Cannabis will become a commodity too, and you will need to find the cheapest way of growing the highest yield and quality with the lowest amount of inputs." 

Solomon ended his presentation by speaking about a few innovations that are on his agenda. These can be compared with current trends and technologies from high tech greenhouse vegetable and floriculture industries. He said that LEDs are much discussed, but efficient growing goes beyond efficient supplemental lighting. "The cannabis industry should learn a lot more on how to grow in a greenhouse space with available daylight. Next to this we emphasize a higher amount of automation and precision farming technologies with the help of things like real time sensors. Also on the energy side there is much room for innovation, think about cogeneration with CHP's. Next to this we study opportunities in the use of tissue culture and micro propagation."

"The good thing about this all is that there is a lot of capital available in this industry. This will help drive the innovation", Solomon concluded.

See also : www.medmen.com