(This is the second installment in a series examining sustainability in cannabis cultivation.)
Environmental sustainability in cannabis cultivation operations sounds nice in marketing material, but in practice, marijuana growers need to turn a profit to keep their companies alive.
So how can a cannabis grower do both?
“Balancing the health of the pocketbook with the health of the planet is a step that all cannabis facilities should consider regardless of their own worldviews, because it just makes sense,” said Av Singh, cultivation expert at Nova Scotia-based Flemming & Singh Cannabis.
Three key areas to consider when thinking about improving a cannabis operation’s impact on the environment are:
- How to add financially viable sustainability.
- How to work sustainability into a business plan.
- How to ensure a return on a sustainability investment.
To gain some advice and insights, MJBizDaily spoke with three cultivation experts.
Here are their thoughts.
- 1. How to add financially viable sustainability.
Singh recommends growers start with a “trash inventory” to take stock of what is lost to the landfill.
“When you find that the majority of your waste is in rockwool or coco blocks or it’s in foot covers and pesticides, or that most of your money is being spent on electricity or water – you now have real information which you can act on for some more cost-effective and sustainable solutions,” he said.
For example, foot covers are not costly, but they add trash.
Instead of assuming that foot covers are the only way to minimize pathogens, do an environmental scan and test where pathogens are truly a problem, Singh added.
“Sustainable business practices and profitable businesses are not necessarily mutually exclusive,” said David Kessler, chief science officer of Billerica, Massachusetts-based Agrify Corp., which makes hardware and software for indoor cannabis cultivators.
“Making choices based on sustainability can often lead to a more successful enterprise.”
Kessler recommended growers looking to improve sustainability focus on the following areas:
Cultivation room environmental management: Sizing HVAC systems for a cultivation room is more like the requirements for an indoor pool than a factory, Kessler said.
“Managing the temperature in a grow room is easier than controlling the humidity, a problem that compounds with increased plant density,” he added.
“Also, consider more than the price and the size of your HVAC equipment. Consider the operational efficiency.”
Lighting selection: Electricity is one of the primary cultivation cost drivers, according to Kessler.
Choosing energy-efficient LED lighting over high-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs can reduce energy consumption by more than a third, he added.
Fertigation automation: This can reduce the amount of water used by a cultivation operation. It also eliminates human error and reduces the amount of spent water and fertilizer, according to Kessler.
Media selection: Choosing a sustainable growing media such as coco coir over peat-based substrates reduces the depletion of peat bogs, Kessler said.
“Peat fields house roughly one-third of the world’s soil-sequestered carbon, the harvesting of which releases tremendous amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change,” he added.
Switching from hydroponics to organic or living soil is another way cultivators can make their operations more sustainable, according to Ryan Douglas, a Florida-based cannabis consultant.
“Soil-based substrates are teeming with microorganisms that constantly break down organic matter and slowly release nutrition to the crop,” he said.
“This minimizes the amount of additional fertilizer required, and the soil can be used more than once.”
Use appropriate caution, however.
Soil-borne pests, difficulties sourcing raw ingredients and problems ensuring sufficient volume for commercial-scale production can result in a steep learning curve for cultivators new to soil growing, Douglas added.
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By Bart Schaneman, Editor
January 26, 2022 - Updated January 26, 2022
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Source : MJBizDaily
Link to original : 3 tips for making a cannabis grow operation sustainable without breaking the bank
