Not all measurements are equal.

In commercial cannabis cultivation, investors and professional operators have many questions, whether they are entering the industry or just want to see how their operations compare to others. One of the more important issues that is always raised is yield. How do you compare to your peers? It is difficult to know that there are so many different ways to measure this indicator, and not all measures are equal.

Let us first talk about some of the most common methods of measuring yield, starting with the most common traditional measurement of yield per lamp. This indicator has existed since the development of illegal market growers in the basement, and it is still mentioned today—although it has become less and less as the industry matures and migrates to more explicit indicators.

This measurement tells us the yield under a single light. An older benchmark that I still often hear is to produce at least 2 pounds. Every light. The output and footprint are not defined in this measurement (more on this later), so you cannot accurately judge whether this is a good production data.

Let's look at a few scenes. Planter A has a 2,000 watt lamp consisting of two 1,000 watt bulbs and weighs approximately 2 pounds. Under that light in every cycle. Grower B uses a single 1,000W fixture and grows the same amount per cycle as Grower A. On the surface, the yields of grower A and grower B seem to be the same; but once you explore this basic figure, you will clearly see that grower B is more efficient in production, and grower B gains from investment and operation It’s more attractive from a perspective.

If grower A uses a 2,000 watt device to plant on an area of ​​25 square feet, and grower B has a planting area of ​​16 square feet and obtains the same yield, you can now see that grower A is about 50-100% less efficient. One part.

Currently, the most common metric report seems to be grams per square foot (g/sq. ft.). This measurement is one step higher than the output of each lamp, but it also has its own series of shortcomings. Use the following equation to make this measurement.

(Total yield in grams)/(Total planting footprint) = (grams per square foot)

So, if you use 1,600 square feet of canopy for planting, and your total yield is 90,600 grams, then your equation will look like this:

Using this type of reporting indicator, we can more easily compare the output of different facilities based on productivity. For example, if grower A reports a yield of 56.625 g/sq. foot. At the time of her last harvest, grower B reported 60 g/m2. ft. (based on a total yield of 96,000 grams), we can clearly see that grower B has a higher planting space.

But in order for this measurement to be meaningful, we need to standardize the reporting metrics into this number:

Planting area: This figure should only be calculated using the canopy of the planting area. The canopy is defined as the area where plants exist. If you have a 2,000 square foot cultivation room with 48 4 foot x 8 foot tables, you will report that your canopy space is 1,536 square feet (48 tables x 32 square feet of table space).

Product weight: The weight of the product should be reported as dry and destemmed. The flowers should be unpruned, so that you can account for the full weight of the available flower products; but if you can only trim after weighing, then just add the collected pruning weight. It is important to report only the dry weight, because according to your local laws and regulations, the product should be in a state where it can be sold as a final product. Of course, the product should be completely stalked, because the stem is not a flower product. (Keep in mind that these calculations are designed to calculate the total amount of flower products available, and it may be different if you extract the whole plant like some growers do.)

As you can see in the previous example, as long as the reporting requirements are the same, it is easy to see which grower is more productive; but what it does not show you is the profit potential. However, measuring grams per watt (g/W) is the most accurate way to truly understand output and potential profitability. This indicator takes into account the energy (watts) used to produce one gram of product. The higher the output per watt, the higher the productivity of the grower. To calculate this number, use the following equation.

Step 1. First calculate your total light output (in watts):

(Number of lights) x (power consumption per lamp, in watts) = (total power consumption in watts)

Step 2. Then, once we have calculated the total consumption in watts, we can use the following equation to get the number of grams per watt:

(Total output in grams)/(total consumption in watts) = (grams per watt)

To illustrate this point, let us apply the formulas in each step above. Assume that grower A uses 100, 660W LED lights to produce 90,600 grams, and grower B uses 100, 1,000W HPS lights to produce 96,000 grams. Each fixture of the two growers used 16 square feet of floor space. For comparison purposes, each grower has 100 lights for a total coverage of 1,600 square feet.

Step 2: 90,600 grams/66,000 watts = 1.37 grams/watt

Step 2: 96,000 grams/100,000 watts = 0.96 grams/watt

With this information, we can see that even if grower B has a higher yield per square foot, grower A is 43% more efficient than grower B.

Since everyone is talking about yield, why is efficiency more important? As a commercial operator, it is important for us to maximize productivity per square foot like any other manufacturer in other industries, but we must do so without sacrificing efficiency.

Cannabis cultivation permits are usually accompanied by strict zoning laws, restricting potential locations to a small portion of available land. This, coupled with the increased costs and operational risks of building larger and larger facilities, demonstrates the importance of focusing on efficiency rather than raw output.

Efficiency not only helps reveal the potential profitability of a company, but also shows how environmentally friendly a company is. The indoor cannabis industry alone uses 1% of the country's electricity (according to Dr. Evan Mills' 2012 report "The Carbon Footprint of Indoor Hemp Production"); this may not sound like much, but it is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 1.7 million American homes . Greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be equivalent to 3 million cars per year. As cannabis production expands in the United States, unless we begin to focus on efficiency when designing and building new facilities, these numbers will only increase.

Production efficiency also provides us with a tool to measure the company's potential profitability. In other words, if you spend more money to create the same amount, your profits will decrease. As you can see from the previous example, the overall production does not fully describe the financial situation of a given company. By considering even simple indicators such as the power used to generate the reported rate of return, we can understand the company’s profit potential, which is much more important than the original rate of return when the company evaluates potential investment opportunities.

Andrew Lange is the Chief Technology Officer of Agrios Global Holdings, a Canadian agricultural technology and services company.

There are several options to neutralize excess alkalinity to prevent pH creep.

We are usually cautious about the ingredients in drinking water, but how often do we consider the water our plants consume? The pH and alkalinity of irrigation water will have a significant impact on the pH of the substrate, which will have a significant impact on plant yield. This is why it is important to test irrigation water.

The pH value is a measurement of the relative hydrogen (H) ion concentration in water. On its own, it has little effect on the pH of the substrate. On the other hand, the alkalinity level can quickly affect the substrate environment and nutrient utilization. Alkalinity is a measure of the carbonate concentration in irrigation water. Types of carbonates-the relative concentration of carbonate (CO32-), bicarbonate (HCO3-) and carbonic acid (H2CO3) is the main buffer system for controlling the pH value of irrigation water and the pH value of the substrate solution. If the irrigation water contains high concentrations of carbonate and bicarbonate, the pH of the substrate solution will rise to a level that is not conducive to cannabis production.

Bicarbonates are not considered directly toxic, but they interfere with the absorption of essential element roots and increase the pH of the substrate solution. Iron deficiency, manifested as yellowing of newly expanded and developing leaves or chlorosis between veins, is a major problem for plants growing in high pH substrates (Figure 1). For crops that grow in a small amount of root substrate or crops that grow for a long time, iron deficiency is more serious, which makes the pH value of the substrate gradually increase.

The high alkalinity in the irrigation water can limit plant growth and cause economic losses to producers of container-grown hemp crops. High alkalinity may occur in coastal areas or above the limestone bedrock. Most well waters in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, southern Ontario, and Canadian prairie provinces contain excessively high alkalinity. Testing your water is the first step in determining a management plan.

The alkalinity of irrigation water will vary with the location of the well, the depth of the well and the time of year. Standard water analysis usually includes pH, conductivity, and alkalinity. Cannabis growers may also want to test for macronutrients, including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S), as well as the micronutrient boron (B) in water The chloride (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo) and zinc (Zn). It is recommended to conduct a water test for each well, and it should be done once a year. Since the stopper contains a small amount of substrate, hemp clone producers should consider conducting monthly water quality tests and start monitoring changes in water quality throughout the year.

Obtaining water samples for alkalinity testing is quick and easy. That's it:

Many commercial laboratories analyze water alkalinity and micronutrients. Make sure to send the sample to a commercial laboratory that can provide acid injection recommendations. For analysis, please consult your local promoter. Some states have free testing options, and some laboratories or states will only run some of the tests you might need.

Each hemp operation is different in terms of water quality, root substrate type, fertilizer type (acidic or alkaline), watering method, container size, and length of crop growth time. Therefore, since alkalinity is the main component that affects the production system, it should be neutralized before determining and implementing a fertilization strategy.

Growers can use several methods to overcome high alkalinity in irrigation water: adding acid, improving fertilizer, or using pond water for irrigation. The method or combination of methods used varies from operation to operation. They include:

Inject acid into irrigation water to neutralize alkalinity. The amount of acid required depends on the starting pH and alkalinity level of the irrigation water and the desired target end alkalinity level. In general, it is recommended that the target end point alkalinity for most greenhouse-grown crops (including cannabis) is about 2 milliequivalents (meq) [122 ppm bicarbonate (HCO3-)]. (This also applies to cannabis grown in indoor containers.) This should result in a pH of 6.0 to 6.2 in the end water. This target endpoint allows for seasonal changes in alkalinity that occur naturally in the well and allows for errors in measuring acidity. Operations that produce clone plugs and are willing to monitor their alkalinity levels weekly may need to be neutralized to 1 meq of alkalinity (this will cause the pH of the water to approach 5.7) to better control the pH of its substrate.

Commonly used acids for alkalinity control are: phosphoric acid (H3PO4) (75% and 85%), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) (35% and 93%) or nitric acid (HNO3) (61.4% and 67%). Each acid provides beneficial nutrients to plants. For example, adding 1 ounce of each acid per 1,000 gallons of water will provide: 2.92 ppm P (containing 75% phosphoric acid), 1.14 ppm S (containing 35% sulfuric acid), or 1.47 ppm N (containing 61.4% nitric acid). Due to their properties, all acids are dangerous, but some acids are more effective than others. For example, phosphoric acid is relatively safer than sulfuric acid, and sulfuric acid is safer than nitric acid. Therefore, growers should wear protective clothing when handling acid. Citric acid can also be used, but it is the least economical.

Remember to add acid to the water! Do not add water to concentrated acid (this may cause it to splash and cause severe burns). This means that if you must mix the tank, fill the tank with water first, and then add concentrated acid. This will also ensure that you have a homogeneous mixture.

Most operations use sulfuric acid. It is the cheapest, moderately safe, and provides sufficient levels of sulfur. The simplest type to use is battery acid, which is 35% sulfuric acid. Phosphoric acid is suitable for operations that need to neutralize alkalinity up to 1 meq. When higher amounts of alkalinity must be neutralized, the amount of phosphorus (P) provided far exceeds the needs of plants. High levels of P can cause plants to overstretch, especially for cloning plugs.

(Some commercial flower growers use phosphoric acid to provide adequate levels of phosphorus to the plants, and use sulfuric acid or nitric acid to neutralize the remaining alkalinity.) Growers sometimes choose nitric acid because it provides N and allows them to reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer.

After adding the acid, retest the water one day later, and check the pH and alkalinity level of the water again after two to three weeks. Since hemp is a bioaccumulator, it is best to test the acid you use to make sure it does not contain heavy metals.

All fertilizers are marked with acidity or alkalinity, expressed in pounds per ton of calcium carbonate equivalent (an agricultural term that measures the alkaline or acidic effect of fertilizers on soil pH). Acidic fertilizers provide another option for neutralizing alkalinity and lowering the pH of the root substrate. The acidification potential of acid fertilizers is mainly due to the ammonia and urea forms of nitrogen. High levels of ammonia nitrogen can cause ammonia poisoning in certain crops (it is determined to be yellowing and the upper leaves may curl, which may develop into edge necrosis).

In winter (cool substrates and temperatures, and cloudy conditions), ammonia poisoning is more likely to occur. In addition, nitrogen in the form of ammonia and urea promotes leaf expansion. Excessive levels of these forms of nitrogen can lead to overgrowth of plants. Greenhouse growers prefer fertilizers that contain more than 80% nitrogen in the form of nitrates to avoid excessive growth.

The general recommendation of North Carolina State University for continuous fertilization of flower varieties grown in greenhouses is that ammonia nitrogen (plus urea) should provide less than 33% of total nitrogen (the rest is nitrate nitrogen). This also applies to cannabis grown indoors. When acid fertilizer is used to offset alkalinity, the ammonia nitrogen content can be as high as 50%. Acidic fertilizers with an ammonia nitrogen content of more than 50% are only recommended as short-term corrective measures.

Pond water is an excellent source for irrigating plants. Pond water does not contain excessive alkalinity or other nutrients. The calcium and magnesium content in pond water is usually low, and calcium and magnesium supplementation may be required. Protecting ponds from pollution is a must for growers. Herbicide runoff is a problem, and water from the surrounding farmland must not be discharged into the pond. Filtering and algae control must be performed before using pond water.

Regardless of the method chosen, for operations with well water alkalinity levels greater than 2 meq [122 ppm bicarbonate (HCO3-)], alkalinity neutralization is required. Growers need to choose the neutralization method that best suits their operation. It is best to perform routine analysis of the root matrix to monitor pH and nutrient levels, and to ensure that your fertility and alkalinity neutralization plan meets your goals.

Brian Whipker, Paul Cockson, James Turner Smith and Hunter Landis from the Department of Horticulture Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina

Why is it time to abandon these classifications.

For a long time, I have always had the idea of ​​writing a column. The content is that we really need to make some dialects of the cannabis industry gradually disappear to further help eliminate the stigma of the industry. At the top of the list of words I should probably give up are "sativa" and "indica".

Of course, it's a good thing that I didn't write that article when I wanted to, because considering several landmark studies published recently, I would look like an idiot. Who knows, when the smoke clears and the dust settles, maybe I still look like an idiot, but at least this column is better now than I wrote a few months ago.

So, that's the way it is, and despite the recent publication of these studies, I believe that just because we can continue to use the industry terms of alfalfa and indica does not mean that we should use these terms. In fact, if anything, these articles reinforce my view because they emphasize what an empty and meaningless classification system has become. Allow me to explain...

One of the above studies was published in Plant Physiology 1 by Jordan J. Zager and colleagues. Unlike most previous studies that observed and isolated cannabis varieties based on DNA, researchers actually isolated and examined RNA from glandular trichomes, as well as the characteristics of cannabinoids and terpenes. DNA sequencing can provide the genetic characteristics of an organism, while RNA sequencing only reflects sequences that are actively expressed in cells. This is a way to check for variables in genetic or phenotypic expression that are otherwise the same. The researchers provided some convincing evidence that there is some genetic basis for distinguishing the subgroups of Cannabis sativa L. (presumably alfalfa and indica). In other words, even though the scientific community may still recognize only one species of Cannabis sativa L., there is at least some evidence that there are actually two or more subspecies. Stick to alfalfa/indica to get one point, right?

To be fair, although I call this a landmark study (because of their methodology), this is not the first evidence that there are different subspecies of cannabis. Welling et al. published a paper on Euphytica² in 2016, in which the author believes that the correct classification of cannabis varieties requires "cannabinoid analysis and co-dominant DNA marker analysis". That is to say, there may be differences in the cannabinoid profiles between the so-called alfalfa and indica. Therefore, cannabinoid profiles and genetic markers must be considered in order to accurately classify something as alfalfa or indica. More evidence for alfalfa and indica, right? It looks like I am 0 to 2.

In addition, researchers Anna Schwabe and Mit McGlaughlin of the University of Northern Colorado just published a paper in the Journal of Marijuana Research 3 in which they found "strong statistical support [support] dividing the sample into two genomes... ...." But this is where the whole alfalfa/indica matter started to go off track, as the sentence continues "[but] these groups do not match the commonly reported alfalfa/hybrid/indica types."

And the situation will only get worse from there, because this is definitely not the first time researchers have pointed out that what the industry says about alfalfa or indica is inconsistent with what science actually says. For example, Hillig published a paper in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution4 in 2005, analyzing the genetic information of more than 150 varieties. He concluded that "the indica gene bank includes fiber/seed landraces from East Asia, narrow-leaf drug strains from South Asia, Africa and Latin America, broad-leaf drug strains from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and wild populations from India and Nepal." In other words, it turns out that the whole thing about the thin leaves of alfalfa and the wide leaves of indica is actually incorrect.

In an interview published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research5 in 2016, Dr. Ethan Russo, Director of Research and Development of the International Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Institute, criticized the alfalfa/indica classification system used in the industry. He said, “There are biochemically different cannabis strains, but the alfalfa/indica distinction commonly used in non-professional literature is completely nonsense and futile. At present, people cannot in any way determine according to height, branch or leaf morphology. Guess the biochemical content of a given cannabis plant.” Therefore, without genetic testing and a complete cannabinoid and terpene profile, we cannot reasonably determine that a given variety is true alfalfa or indica.

When this meaningless distinction is used, the entire cannabis supply chain from grower to grower causes damage to customers, especially medical patients and/or novice cannabis users. As Schwabe and McGlaughlin said, “For entertainment users, the differences in characteristics within named strains may be surprising, but for medical patients who rely on specific strains to relieve specific symptoms, the differences may be more serious... .. There is no consistent genetic difference between a wide range of opinions on alfalfa and indica cannabis types. In addition, genetic analysis does not support the reported ratio of alfalfa to indica in each strain, which is expected given the lack of genetic differences between indica and indica of."

So, this is what we know:

1. Although Cannabis sativa L. is a single species, there is some genetic evidence to support the idea that this plant has at least two different subspecies.

2. However, no matter what the basis for distinguishing these subspecies, visual features such as leaf width, plant height or almost any other visible plant morphological features are definitely not among them.

3. Therefore, those true subgroup names often do not match the alfalfa/indica label for a given variety.

4. The ability of the grower to change the name of a variety, whether it is for profit (that is, to take advantage of the popularity of certain varieties) or to perceive uniqueness (that is, to try to distinguish oneself in the market by owning something), this is not Clarity further complicates unique or special), or any other reason under the sun. You can also see profound genetic variation through breeding.

5. This melee with variety names and accompanying alfalfa/indica labels has created inconsistent and unpredictable conditions for consumers. In the best case, this is annoying. In the worst case, it can have serious negative consequences. (For more information on the issue of cultivar substitution, see Dr. Dedi Meiri’s TED Talk6, titled "Behind the Smoke Screen of Medical Marijuana", in which he tells the story of failed attempts to substitute cultivars for children with autism).

I certainly hope that one day our industry will be more standardized, and we will eventually have enough understanding of the various varieties to be able to wisely talk about the differences between cannabis subspecies. However, that day is not today. When that day finally comes, I suspect that we will also have a sufficient understanding of the relationship between plant secondary metabolites (such as phytocannabinoids, terpenes, etc.), individual body chemistry, and various disease conditions. In any case, the classification will be meaningless-a bit like today.

As Russo said in 2016, “I strongly encourage the scientific community, the media, and the public to abandon the alfalfa/indica nomenclature and instead insist on accurate biochemical analysis of cannabinoids and terpenoids that can be used in the medical and entertainment markets of cannabis. Scientifically accurate Sex and public health needs are no less than this."

Dr. Curtis Livesay, CCA, is the Director of Agricultural Services at Agrios Global Holdings.

1 Zager, JJ, Lange, I., Srividya, N., Smith, A., & Lange, BM (2019). The gene network for the accumulation of cannabinoids and terpenoids in cannabis. Plant Physiology, 180, 1877-1897.

2 Welling, MT, Liu, L., Shapter, T., Raymond, CA, & King, GJ (2016). Characterization of cannabinoid components in different Cannabis sativa L. germplasm collections. Euphytica, 208, 463-475.

3 Schwabe, AL, & McGlaughlin, ME (2019). Genetic tools eliminate misunderstandings about the reliability of cannabis strains: the impact on emerging industries. Journal of Cannabis Research, 1, 1-16.

4 Hillig, KW (2005). Genetic evidence of cannabis (cannabis family) speciation. Genetic resources and crop evolution, 52, 161-180.

5 Piomelli, D., & Russo, EB (2016). Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica debate: an interview with Ethan Russo, MD. Cannabis and cannabinoid research, 1, 44-46.

6 Merri, D. (2018). Behind the smoke screen of medical marijuana. TedXT Tel Aviv. Retrieved from bit.ly/Meiri-MMJ-smokescreen on September 5, 2019

The executive team of East Fork Cultivars took bad steps and turned it into a business for few other companies in the cannabis industry.

In life, we are all beaten badly: poverty or financial bankruptcy, loss of relationships, poor health, etc. We cannot control the cards we get, only how we play them.

For Nathan and Aaron Howard, co-founders of East Fork Cultivars based in Oregon, it would be easy and understandable to see the cards handed over to their family and their other brother Wesley and folded up. Wesley suffers from severe neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that causes tumors to form on nerve tissues such as the brain, spine, and nerves.

According to Oregon's original medical marijuana program (approved by voting in 1998), Aaron cultivated Wesley and others at his home in southern Oregon (formerly a llama breeding ranch). The Howard family mainly bred high-THC varieties. Wesley requested treatment of pain and other diseases related to his condition. The Howard family closely observed the side effects of these type 1 varieties on their deceased brother. (Wesley passed away in 2017 due to complications from his illness.) "It really helped him cope with the intense pain he endured and the mental pain caused by real, very difficult and unfair treatment in life," Nathan recalled road. "But we think that maybe we can find or create something that is not so intoxicating, but we can still breathe a sigh of relief, because he is basically always excited, like really intoxicated, which is almost The only option available."

Nathan and Aaron set out to find a variety that would relieve the pain and euphoria their brother was looking for in marijuana without letting him orgasm weakly: the elusive Type 2 and Type 3 varieties. Little did they know that finding genetics that are more suitable for treating their brother's symptoms would become the main differentiating factor for their future company, helping them through the difficult times in the future.

In 2014, while researching cannabidiol (CBD), the brothers discovered the CBD project, a California-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and advocating research on the medical uses of CBD and other components of the cannabis plant. The next year, the brothers purchased 12 plants that fit their description. Of these, only six have the correct cannabinoid profile (ie, not a high-THC variety), and the different phenotypes of OG78, ACDC, and Canna-Tsu. Nathan said these plants became "the beginning of our breeding work."

For Aaron, these genes gave him the opportunity to answer a question he had asked himself as a caregiver for a long time: How would it feel to feel good about your growth?

Although he knows that many people enjoy the medical benefits of high THC varieties, he is also aware of the entertaining nature of cannabinoids, which is not where he is interested in the market.

Canopy size: hemp: 40,000 square feet; craft hemp: 12 acres

Products provided: flowers, pre-rolls, tinctures, various ingredients provided through contract processors, dozens of East Fork-powered products developed by partner companies

The East Fork Ranch covers 33 acres and is located in the town of Taquilma in the Illinois Valley, Oregon. It is home to a large number of natural wildlife including deer, cougars, coyotes and bears. Only one acre (43,560 square feet) of the property is dedicated to cannabis production licensed by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), which means that most of the property is unaffected in its home state. "Our bioregion is a hotbed of wildlife, and we do our best to protect it," said CEO Mason Walker. “We plant many pollinator-friendly flowers every year and maintain a healthy pollinator population. Our favorites are tons of bees and various butterflies. We also keep a small orchard and some Additional fruit tree plantations."

The team prefers to use materials and resources from the property rather than importing from other parts of the state or country. The property shares water rights from the Illinois River with neighboring farms, which flow into the property’s three ponds. From there, mechanical pumps draw water from the pond to feed the drip irrigation system. "This drip irrigation system is a way to reduce waste while preventing weeds from taking root by only slowly watering the necessary areas," Walker explained.

In addition to gravity-irrigated pools, East Fork Cultivars also grow crops in the local soil, further linking the company to the terroir of the area. "By choosing to grow in native soil, we reduce our impact and deepen our connection with this place, which helps to create chemically complex varieties," Nathan said. "We also know that the distribution of terpenes is mainly determined by the growth environment-soil is an important part of it."

In order to maintain and replenish the natural microbial community in the soil, the Howards developed the habit of covering the field during harvest. Timing is very important, because covering crops during or immediately after harvest ensures that the soil is free of vegetation in the shortest possible time. "These cover crops overwinter and provide many benefits to the soil, such as fixing nutrients, improving soil structure, preventing erosion, adding organic matter, suppressing weeds and increasing biodiversity," Aaron detailed.

Before planting new crops, Howard and their team tested the soil to determine if any nutritional supplements were needed. If so, the locally sourced organic dry improver will be spread through the rotary tiller. “This is a less invasive alternative to traditional tillers,” Aaron said. He added that East Fork collects and cultivates “indigenous microorganisms from the healthy local forests around the pastures by inoculating cooked rice or wheat grains. This greatly improves our soil microbiome, which also improves soil fertility. , Inclination, structure, and attracting earthworms. We spread this inoculum at a rate of 1,200 pounds per acre and put it into our bed with a hand rake.” These native microorganisms are also combined with the straw harvested by the East Fork team from the previous year. The biochar prepared in the pair.

Using Korean Natural Agriculture (KNF) and JADAM Natural Agriculture principles, the only nutrient applied to crops during the planting process is the anaerobic fermentation product produced in-house by the East Fork Cultivars team. But even those feedings are kept to a minimum, because minimal pruning techniques (when used in low humidity areas such as southern Oregon) allow cannabis plants to "prun themselves" by letting the inner leaves die and fall to the ground. "This The act of discarding unproductive plant material not only provides mulch for the soil, but also recycles nutrients back into the soil," said Aaron. "Any trimmed material or any removed plants (such as males) are used for liquid fermentation to further recycle nutrients back to the crop. We focus on feeding the soil, which is the nourishment for our plants." (In higher humidity In the growing environment, if you use this technique, please pay attention to diseases (botrytis and powdery mildew).)

Since 2016, East Fork Farms has been certified with Clean Green, but the team is working to add a new and more powerful cannabis certification, Sun Earth, by the non-profit branch of Dr. Bronner's, which produces organic soaps and other personal care products. Creation. Although both validate the organic practices used by cannabis producers, the Sun Earth certification also looks at the company’s workplace culture, ethics, and community involvement records. Walker expects the company to become the second farm in Oregon and one of the first farms in the country to receive the certification. "Sun Earth follows the same standards as the USDA organic certification body, including all aspects of B Corps certification. We are very excited about it and the potential positive impact it may have on trade," he said.

In a world full of hybrids, phytochemical characteristics may vary from batch to batch based on many environmental factors and genetic inheritance, so the indica/alfalfa/hybrid classification of cannabis chemical variants rarely shows the effect of standardization. Compared with understanding, this may cause more confusion and misinformation.

Growers, researchers, and educators are increasingly using a new, science-driven taxonomy that divides cannabis types into three categories based on their chemical characteristics:

Type 1-Varieties with high THC and almost no measurable CBD.

Type 2-Produces mixed-proportion cultivars with high CBD levels and high THC. Type 2 varieties usually produce THC and CBD percentages higher than 1% and lower than 15%.

Type 3 – This can be any form of craft hemp or hemp, which produces CBD-rich characteristics (10% to 25%), usually less than 1% THC, and is almost non-toxic to consumers.

-Author: Andrea Sparr-Jaswa, CBT Science Editor

Getting the first OLCC harvest on a healthy land in 2016 is a race against time. To ensure that the company had enough time for the plants to fully mature, the Howards planted the first crops five weeks before the first OLCC inspection proved that the property had been coded. A week before the inspection, “We did complete about three weeks or a month of work in a week to write code for our investigators,” Nathan said, adding that he does not recommend anyone try this on their own. "Everyone is exhausted... I kind of want to quit. And it hasn't started yet."

In the end, the bet was won, and East Fork obtained the planting permit in time and completed the first harvest. But this is far from the last obstacle the company has cleared in its four-year journey.

The first harvest is inherently challenging: East Fork Cultivars brings different genes with exotic terpene and cannabinoid characteristics to the market, providing companies with an opportunity to stand out from the competition, but it must also educate mainly novices The value of non-toxic compounds such as CBD for consumers. In other words, East Fork must establish a market for the plants it is already growing and the crops it is already growing.

A chance encounter with a representative of Farma, a Portland pharmacy focused on science and education, which later developed into one of East Fork's first retail partners. It then reached an agreement with Luminous Botanicals, an Oregon company that produces THC and CBD tinctures and topical agents, and remains one of the farm’s most important partners.

The first growing season looked promising: the summer weather continued and the plants looked healthy, East Fork was one of the first to obtain a cannabis production license in the state, and the harvest is expected to be good. Then, the storm struck. "A... typhoon hit southern Oregon in October 2016," Walker recalled.

"We did grow plants underwater," Nathan recalled, his face wrinkled slightly when he detailed his frustration when he saw the hard work of the first year spring up like mushrooms. Walker and Nathan said that some neighboring farms lost up to 60% of their crops. East Fork is lucky: although many plants are underwater, only 5% of the crop is lost due to mold and mildew.

Among other water-related issues, crops require longer drying times, which means delayed income generation. East Fork was able to survive the winter with almost no sales and brought the first crop to the market in the spring of 2017, about the same time Walker became the company's CEO.

"Real cannabis flowers are not super attractive," he described. "However, let us know that therapeutic compounds are still very effective. Therefore, we finally...send most of the 1,200 pounds of cannabis grown in 2016 to product manufacturer partners." It was successful, but this sale was the second blow, Nathan said, because East Fork had already spent time and resources manually trimming its flowers, thinking it would be sold to consumers as it is.

With the first crops entering the market, the East Fork team quickly saw the development of a model-and the medical community has lagged behind CBD as an effective medical option (thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta in 2013 For Charlotte's report Figi, the inspiration behind the popular Charlotte's Web CBD oil), consumers in the adult use market still don't believe in CBD-led flower products.

In order to help the Oregon market educate the cannabis, cannabidiol and endocannabinoid systems, and hope to also upgrade their own boats, East Fork Cultivars hired Anna Symonds as its education director and created the CBD certification, which is A free cannabis science education program. Symonds' role mainly includes developing educational tools to let retailers and consumers understand the value of many compounds in cannabis, and to demonstrate CBD certification to more than 3,000 people. She also works with groups such as the Oregon Department of Agriculture and New Season Market to provide education to regulatory agencies, their employees and customers.

The company also diversifies its products by selling pre-rolls to its pharmacy partners. Sales were a bit slow at first, but they quickly picked up. The first harvest "gave us enough motivation to a) stay alive, b) hire our first real employees,...you know, from a medical startup to a large-scale production farm."

The summer of 2017 was ready for East Fork’s success: all the allowable land on the farm (mainly Type 2 and Type 3) was planted, the Howards patched up their organic practices, Walker managed the end result of the matter, new employees Learned their role.

As the autumn weather is more cooperative than the company's first year ("75 degrees, sunny all the way," Walker recalled), the executive team is confident that it will not only do better than last year, but also do better than most growers better. market. After all, the products they offer are rarely understood by other growers, let alone the products they can access. "I thought,'I'm pretty sure now that no matter what we grow up, we can figure out a way, and we won't lose all the money of family and friends," Nathan said.

Then, the Oregon market collapsed.

"This is a fatal harvest, especially for the sun-grown farms in southern Oregon," Walker said. "It's just that a large amount of oversupply is dumped on the market, and the market explodes, implodes, and then completely disappears." The farmers who have just reaped a bumper harvest are the victims of their own success. "It's not that you can only sell it at a low price. It's that you really can't sell your flowers because it is six times more than the country can afford," he said.

Nathan remembers that during January, February, and March 2018, he had been seeing people in line at the pharmacy—not a line of customers looking for a large number of goods, but a line of growers who wanted to show up to the store. Nathan compared what happened in Oregon with the collapse of the Alaska fisheries market, except that "what happened in the fishery for decades happened in Oregon within about 18 months."

"The green craze has become a green obsession," he added. "It was supposed to be a new opportunity to create wealth, but it became the main new driver of debt and human trauma." Human trauma should not be underestimated, because after historical price competition, a series of peasant suicides occurred. "This is despair and frustration, and we hardly persevere."

Walker attributed the company's survival to niche markets it had discovered early on. Without this differentiation, East Fork will always strive to sell the same products as other farmers. But this does not mean that it does not feel pain.

East Fork had to lay off nearly half of its 12 employees. Today, this decision still haunts Walker, and he promised not to repeat the same mistakes. "I have a lot of credit cards now, so there won't be the next round," he said half-jokingly.

Those difficult times and even harder decisions taught the East Fork team some very valuable lessons about managing expectations, relationships, and building business.

"My biggest gain is to speed up our strategy, which is a very basic and ancient diversification and differentiation business strategy," Walker said. "We are always trying to diversify our products, the way we record revenue. This is unique products, multiple SKUs, multiple customer types, retailers, product manufacturers, farmers, and then differentiation. Therefore, just focus on what we do differently from others," he said.

For Nathan, the lesson is more bitter. In addition to experiencing the lowest point of the Oregon market, the Howards are still mourning the first anniversary of Wesley's death. The whole season "makes me very cynical about the Oregon market and makes me crave other things."

The biggest challenge to start or maintain a planting business: "Learning to accept the vicissitudes of agriculture, working in the rapidly changing field of hemp, while maintaining the determination to move forward in difficulties, is my biggest challenge. Practice is to try my best. And work smartly so that at the end of the day I can be satisfied with what I’ve done—even if that’s not what I thought at the beginning of the day. Just when I started to improve in areas of work that I felt inadequate before, a New challenges...have emerged. Of course it requires real courage."

People don’t realize when they run a cannabis business: “Persons with cannabis-related experience are not always a bonus on the farm. I like to hire people with cannabis-related experience, but I also like to hire people with experience in vegetable cultivation and woodworking. , And professionals in other industries [previously] who have not been involved in cannabis. I have seen that people who have been in the cannabis world for a while can sometimes be too stubborn and operate with a lot of misinformation."

What keeps you awake at night: "Interpersonal conflict. Challenges with business partners, employees, or customers. If I get upset, abuse or hurt someone in some way, my conscience will keep me awake-even It is in a relatively benign interaction. For me, operating with complete integrity is the most important thing; otherwise, my conscience will nag me."

What can help you fall asleep at night: "30 mg CBD-and the knowledge I did my best that day. If I pay less than my best and things go wrong, I will suffer from insomnia. By comparison Next, if I go all out but things go wrong, I will be satisfied because I did what I can, and the rest is to learn from the situation."

Advice to other practitioners: "Be honest with yourself. Does the direction you are working on really excite you? If so, your enthusiasm will help you and your business get through the ups and downs. If not, you may be. Find yourself and others underperforming when encountering difficulties. And often difficult. Work in the direction that you really care and value, and be prepared for success."

Spring brings a better market because many farmers decide to sell their products to hemp processors instead of waiting for flower prices to rebound.

"The situation may be worse, for some of our friends’ farms, it will be worse. We are fortunate to have a good niche market and quite a lot of differentiation... Focus on what we have in the past few years. The identity of the CBD is created," Walker said.

East Fork has doubled this approach by establishing partnerships with contract processors, who can convert the company's flowers into any number of extracts with any number of cannabinoids and terpenes ratios. "Before that, we just sold flowers to product manufacturers," Walker said. "But we have some product manufacturer partners who don't have their own extracts." By cooperating with contract manufacturers, East Fork provides its partners with "turnkey ingredients for their products."

Spring has also brought new hope to East Fork: the 2018 Farm Bill will legalize hemp production, providing the Howard family with the opportunity to grow hemp and reach a wider national audience.

East Fork owned 1.5 acres of the 9-acre farm at the time, which could be used for cannabis cultivation-a small-scale operation, but enough to get started in the market. That is, until Walker discovered a golden opportunity in a nearby location south of the company's farm. According to the company's website, the East Fork team purchased the 24 acres of land with the help of Steward, and the organization "provides financing for small and medium-sized sustainable farmers through online crowdfunding."

East Fork now owns 33 acres of land and can grow organic hemp certified by the United States Department of Agriculture. (The East Fork team stated that obtaining Sun Earth certification requires more stringent certification than USDA certification).

The team has established partnerships with approximately 40 product manufacturers who use farm hemp or adult hemp products in their formulas, 16 of which are in the hemp field. These 16 companies (including manufacturers of over-the-counter CBD products) help East Fork attract grocery shoppers, not just pharmacy customers. The team also extended its breeding program to cannabis, using a two-stage approach when developing new varieties.

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"We have... the top of the funnel, and we introduce as much genetic diversity as possible into cannabis," Walker explained. "Many of them are... THC-led hemp has unique terpene characteristics that have been created by specialized breeders for decades.... We are actually just doing a lot of crossbreeding And larger populations, and then we are testing, or we try to give ourselves as many opportunities as possible to find unique cannabinoid and terpene profiles, especially types 2 and 3."

The second phase is dedicated to cannabis breeding. Since its breeding work will produce a large number of non-female seeds, East Fork can bring the seeds of the best 3 types of plants into the indoor seed replication facility, which gives the company the ability to maintain 10 populations to independently produce seeds, as well as the ability to stabilize seeds. Walker Describe the breeding of new hybrids and hybrid seeds. This is critical to the company's plan to bring the cannabis seed line to the market by 2020, but the CEO stated that there are still many obstacles. "In order to do this, we must remove some real moral obstacles, and we must have confidence in [seed line]. Feminization rate, field stability, morphology, chemical composition, to ensure that hemp farmers maintain [in] legal THC Within the level. There are more stakes there, so we must have more control in this area."

In order to differentiate and diversify its products, East Fork began to license its genetic and intellectual property (IP) to cooperative farms. Although anyone can grow East Fork Cultivars genes on a non-commercial basis, Walker and Howards worked with tissue culture laboratories Vibrant Hemp Cultures and North American Plants in Oregon to produce 3 million in time for cannabis cultivation in 2020 Plant cloning season.

Walker said that the East Fork team is not worried about potential intellectual property theft, because the license agreement has been signed for two years, after which the company will have a new licensed product.

When they took steps to ensure the long-term solubility of the company, Howard and Walker did not want to be the only successful farm. Too many friends have lost their livelihoods during the "sad winter" and cannot see this situation again. To help other farmers, East Fork recently launched the Organic Hemp Farm Network, a cooperative of three farms that grows craft hemp certified by the United States Department of Agriculture. Walker explained that in addition to its own 12 acres of hemp land, the company also has 7 acres of land on three other partner farms. “So if our product manufacturers need more cannabis than we grow, but fit our values ​​and fit our model well, we can fill the excess supply,” he said.

Hemp farms licensed by OLCC are still operating, but there are no plans to further expand into the market—especially considering that many genes grown on OLCC plots can be grown on hemp plots, and taxation and regulation are less stringent (55 % East Fork's OLCC batch includes 3 types of varieties). With hemp, East Fork has the opportunity to grow from a regional craft grower to a national health and wellness brand.

What better way to remember the deceased brother than to ensure that as many people as possible receive the same relief as him.

Brian MacIver is the senior editor of Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary magazine.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the HB 19-1090 bill last summer, heralding a new era of external investment and ownership in the state's cannabis market.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the HB 19-1090 bill last summer, heralding a new era of external investment and ownership in one of the important traditional markets in the US cannabis sector. As the floodgates of new capital are opened, rampant mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities in the U.S. cannabis industry may now more easily flow into Colorado's five-year-old adult use market for at least the past year. The provisions of the bill include:

These regulations (and other rulemaking procedures in the law) will take effect on November 1. Since signing HB 19-1090 in early June, Medicine Man Technologies has announced the terms of the acquisition of 12 planting facilities, 7 manufacturers of infusion products, 33 retail pharmacies in Colorado and a research and development laboratory-each dependent on HB Parameters of 19-1090. Medicine Man Technologies is publicly traded on the over-the-counter market, from which it draws out-of-state investment funds to make these acquisitions. With Polis's signature, the company feels that it is time to move.

"I have been working for about three and a half years to get the bill passed," Medicine Man CEO Andy Williams told Cannabis Business Times. "Colorado's law on books goes back to the beginning. Of course, we are the country's first regulated entertainment and medical market-because of this, Colorado is under the microscope." Williams said, Colorado for the first time When the cannabis system was introduced, legislators imposed very strict restrictions on ownership and investment. Although it was called at the time, "These laws take longer than they need. As states begin to go online nationwide and investment in the industry increases, these investments flow across Colorado."

Due to frantic acquisitions in Colorado, the company's announcements have become more frequent this summer. Williams said this has always been the plan.

The executive team listed its growth plan in the company’s August 2015 S-1 prospectus: “Ultimately, our goal is to become a domestic or international branded cannabis company.... Among other things, the most important thing that needs to happen The developments include the legalization and commercialization of cannabis in the United States and changes in the regulatory standards implemented by Colorado....Until these issues are resolved, we will not be able to fully integrate all aspects of the cannabis industry under our corporate umbrella ."

Williams said that the wave of inflows is helpful to companies looking for buyers or forming some kind of partnership with parties outside of the state. Integration has not slowed down, but more importantly, he cited upcoming product innovations and technical efficiencies in federally licensed cannabis research. MedPharm Holdings, a subsidiary of Medicine Man Technologies, has been "selected to advance" by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to assist its research rulemaking and licensing process.

"I believe this market is definitely one of the most competitive markets in the United States," Williams said, and predicts that Colorado may become "the center of the headquarters of American cannabis companies in time."

Eric Sandy is the digital editor of Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.

The interactive legislation map of Cannabis Business Times is another tool that helps growers quickly browse state cannabis laws and find news related to their market. see more