For the second year in a row, Cultivators organized, with the support of GreenTech Americas in Mexico to help lead the conversation around hydroponic leafy greens in Latin America. Together with partners and speakers from across the value…
Published on 20/03/2023
Groenten & Fruit, a horticulture journal, interviewed our consultants Sonny Moerenhout and Kjell Sneeuw. The interview was about the Cultivation for Compounds (CfC) research consortium. The article, titled “Cannabis, not a copy-paste tomato cultivation”, goes into detail about the need for and benefits of cannabis research.
Cannabis brings a fresh outlook to the horticultural industry. Growers define yield not only by weight but also by chemical content (compounds). CfC participants share this perspective. These companies, with experience in the legal cannabis market, combine their expertise to boost compound levels in the final product. This shift is also gaining traction across the broader horticultural sector, with cannabis currently leading the way in its development.
There is also a need to reduce stigma and close knowledge gaps. As Sonny explains it, “When people think about Cannabis, they predominantly think about the recreational market. However, you don’t do the industry justice that way. When we talk about medicinal cannabis we always say that it’s Pharma not Food”.
Cultivators and their partners are conducting a 4-year research consortium to create reliable results through repeated testing. Sonny Moerenhout explains, “We have a research license from the government, and we can run four cultivation cycles per year.” Through repetition, we create reliable data, this makes it so interesting to participate”.
Because of the diversity of the participating companies, CfC is able to test a lot of factors including light levels, substrate types, fertilizer recipes, and irrigation strategies. The experiments are not limited to a single factor per cultivation cycle. Because of the size of the facility, the partners have to ability to test their products in several ways. In addition to experimenting during the cultivation period, CfC operates its own trimming and drying equipment. The team sends the dried product to a lab for analysis, ensuring control from start to finish. They use the analysis results to inform the research questions for the next trial.
