As the cannabis industry has expanded and matured, maintaining a well-managed, efficient and technologically advanced cultivation facility has emerged as the key to an operator’s success. The economics of today’s industry requires a high level of cultivation performance, including an ability to adapt to changing consumer demands, experiment with different strains and reduce wasteful practices, among other things. The reality of today’s industry: Cultivators must innovate or risk falling behind – or worse.
Some of the biggest challenges facing the industry – high costs, increased competition and product inconsistency – can be addressed by implementing technical, process and management improvements in cultivation facilities. The high cultivation costs of labor and energy have profound impacts on profitability. Meanwhile, increased competition continues to drive prices downward, and the inability to maintain a consistent product supply strains consumer loyalty. No other aspect of a cannabis operation makes as much of an impact on quality and profitability as cultivation –and it is the best place to start when operators consider upgrading facilities (as they absolutely should be doing).
Fortunately, as the pressure on the industry has increased, cannabis cultivators and equipment innovators have stepped up to the plate. Technological advances are pushing the boundaries of cultivation ‘norms’ more than ever, producing outcomes that were previously deemed impossible. As technology has worked to decrease costs and increase efficiencies, cultivators experimenting with new techniques, materials and cultivation processes are finding innovative ways to squeeze every bit of functioning space from facilities while dramatically increasing yields and consistency.
Cultivation tech innovations and improved processes are creating the new standard driving quality, consistency and profitability
The advancements being driven by cannabis cultivation are also felt across agriculture, helping to benefit indoor and outdoor crop cultivation production in other sectors. With these latest advancements, cultivators now have a blueprint for how to achieve greater efficiency, decreased costs and increased productivity. In a nutshell, there are three primary areas to focus on when upgrading cannabis cultivation facilities: Lighting, systems integration and processes.
Lighting
In an indoor cannabis cultivation facility, lights are often working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure a quality crop. For many years, the industry standard was to use conventional HPS light fixtures, which require large amounts of energy and generate significant heat. In addition, conventional lighting was not "tunable" to produce the specific spectrum of light required for varying stages of growth. As a result, energy costs soared due to inefficient lighting and the resulting HVAC use needed to manage facility temperatures–and quality and yields frequently suffered. But today's innovative LED lighting options reduce energy use and costs while increasing efficiency dramatically. For example, higher-powered, spectrumtunable LEDs can drive crop performance in flowering rooms, resulting in greater yields. The dimming capabilities for mother clones and veg and flowering lights aid in precise photoacclimation, enhancing the plant's natural growth while reducing potential crop damage. As the industry shifts to correct years of neglected sustainability policies, LED lighting has become a rallying cry in the ‘green’ cannabis movement–but it is one of the leading solutions for decreasing costs and increasing quality.
Systems Management and Integration
Disparate systems in a cultivation facility for HVAC, irrigation, lighting, and other essential operations are a relic of the past, and smart operators will banish them as soon as possible. In order to compete in the present market and produce the highest quality product, today's cannabis cultivation facilities cannot afford to maintain separate, siloed operations for fertigation, irrigation, environmental controls and other systems. Software known as a building management system (BMS) is a ‘must have’ in the current environment in order to monitor, control, record and centralize all components of a cultivation facility. A welldesigned building management system improves data collection, enabling smarter, data-driven decision-making that optimizes crops, enhances quality and improves efficiency. There is no better way to reduce costs, grow better crops, maintain a consistent product supply and compete in the current market.
Improved Processes
So many years following the advent of the regulated cannabis industry, it can be easy to forget that not so long ago, the best cannabis cultivators were those who were working out of basements, garages, apartments or inconspicuous greenhouses. Modern cultivators have borrowed from and built upon these legacy growers' best practices. And with a profitable new market to serve, tech innovators have also developed modern tools to help improve and streamline cultivation processes. As a result, a new standard for cannabis cultivation is emerging.
Today, enhanced tools and processes allow for crop steering strategies that utilize sensors and software to aid in data-driven crop optimization. Modern lighting, improved airflow strategies, and sophisticated racking and benching to support cultivation canopy eliminate the risk of heat damage and allow growers to devote more facility space to crops. More than ever, cannabis cultivation is a complex endeavor involving a series of engineering and scientific solutions for plant production, delivery of environmental parameters, building management and data-backed decision support. If a cultivation facility is still engaging in the growing practices from 2010, it is guaranteed to be severely underperforming.
Today’s cannabis cultivators must be agriculture experts, brand managers, predictors of customer preferences, and researchers working to create the next great product. When addressed in a deliberate manner, the three areas of improvement above are the critical factors that can help cultivators accomplish all of these roles. A modernized cultivation operation saves money, increases yield and quality, and greatly increases a company's chance of profitability.
