Marijuana Business Magazine January 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | January 2019 96 annual capacity, is expected to take place this fall. Consistency Counts CannTrust has implemented systems in its greenhouses that ensure its products are consistent. The goal: If a customer buys CannTrust- grown Kush with a 20% THC level one day, he or she can return to the dispensary weeks later and be guaranteed the product will be the same. “CannTrust’s system monitors and controls a perfect environment,” said Brady Green, the company’s director of cultivation. “Supplemental lighting ensures there is enough light 365 days a year. Plants begin uniform, as they are cuttings from mother plants and are selected for uniformity right through to flower. A lot of attention to detail goes into pruning the flowering plants to ensure a consistent harvest.” Perpetual Production CannTrust claims its Niagara grow is Canada’s first cannabis production facility to combine moving containerized benches with a perpetual harvest cropping system. The constant harvesting allows for a continuous work cycle. That, in turn, creates a steady production cycle and a more stable and predictable work environment for employees because they are performing all grow and harvest tasks every day. There are no temporary workers, only skilled staff. In a typical greenhouse operation, all seedlings are transferred to a grow room, where they reach maturity on a 10-week cycle. The plants are harvested and the room sanitized, and the cycle begins again. This creates downtime, which is eliminated with a perpetual harvest system. “We dedicate specific rooms for each activity, which means that CannTrust is harvesting almost every day of the year, creating predictable and consistent harvests,” Green said. “To harvest every day, we must also propagate, transplant, prune and de-leaf every day. This results in very efficient grow teams.” In addition, a natural-gas cogeneration system significantly reduces energy costs and provides maximum efficiency for heat and power generation, allowing Business Strategies | Cultivation