Marijuana Business Magazine - Issue 09, Oct 2017

product, especially when growers are set in their ways. “Reaching the customer base is always a challenge for any company, especially when they do sell through such a vast network of partners,” Shoppach said. “We often will go at all measures, where they are at, forums, trade shows, social media. ... We try to have as many conver- sations with our consumer base as possible.” Advanced Nutrients’ Straumie- tis said many growers are trying to replace professionally made mari- juana nutrients with homemade salts, which he said is a big mistake that will end up costing more in the long run because of lower yields. “Guys are mixing ... their own micronutrients, and they’re sav- ing money by doing it. But they’re actually costing themselves money, because what they’re not looking at is what they’re pulling back in bud weight or extracts,” Straumietis said. TRENDS TO WATCH Competition and Consolidation While many expect competition in the nutrient and soil game to ramp up in the near future, several also say the space will end up being domi- nated by a few major players. Scotts Miracle-Gro already is making such a play, with the acquisition of Botan- icare and several other companies, said S.J. Enterprises’ Nieves. The word through the industry grapevine is that many growers are refusing to use Scotts products because of the company’s ties to Monsanto, said both Nieves and Straumietis. Scotts serves as the exclusive agent for the marketing and distribution of Monsanto's herbi- cide Roundup. Straumietis predicted that after the industry dust settles, only a handful of companies will be left standing. “In the beginning, there’ll be more competition. Then there’ll be rollups, and at the end of the day, there’ll probably be three or four top brands, and one or two will have most of the market share,” Straumietis said. Maturation, Partnerships as Customer Base Splits As part of that consolidation, Shop- pach predicted more acquisitions will probably occur, like that of Botanicare by Scotts Miracle-Gro. Alongside that will come professional partnerships and joint ventures. “You’re going to see mass produc- tion. It’s going to become like Big Ag,” Shoppach said. As a byproduct, she and oth- ers agreed the customer base will undergo a polarization between huge corporate grows and small- scale boutique growers and hobby cultivators. “The two different paths are going to work on different product offerings and will have different needs,” Shop- pach said. “Botanicare is going to be ... servicing a niche for the com- mercial sector, but at the same time we’re going to be modifying our home hobbyist systems.” Sanctuary Soil’s Davis agreed: “We can’t customize for small mom and pops, but we can for larger users, and that seems to be where we’re moving with our business.” More Scientific Developments As the cannabis industry matures, another thing to watch for is prod- ucts honed by increased scientific research. Advanced Nutrients, for instance, is putting considerable time and money into developing new ways for growers to fight pests. “Right now, there are no (federally) approved pesticides for cannabis. Zero. This is a huge, huge problem,” Straumietis said. So Advanced Nutrients’ team of scientists is trying to find a way to get cannabis plants to kill pests by themselves. “That is something we’re work- ing on right now,” Straumietis said. “We’ve already sequenced pow- dery mildew, red spidery mites – those genomes have already been sequenced. ... So now, what we’re doing is looking to where we can knock out how the RNA can deliver a message to DNA that self-destructs the organism.” ◆ One of Sanctuary Soil’s retailers displays ads for the company’s product line. Photo courtesy of Sanctuary Soil 110 • Marijuana Business Magazine • October 2017