The perception is that an indoor grow can’t compete with an outdoor grow for a variety of reasons. Well, we think it’s time to put that perception to rest and provide you with some facts straight from an objective source: a hemp/CBD oil processor. The parenthesis were added by us to clarify some points.
We think after you consider the advantages of buying product from a controlled, organic indoor source, you won’t look back.
“I did want to make a few statements about something I learned that I thought would be important. My business partner and I walked a couple of outdoor hemp farms last week and had some interesting discussions with the farmers. On one of the “good” farms, we noticed that the plants were at many different growing stages which means at this late time of the year, these plants may not be able to mature enough to maximize the cannabinoid content.
“Indoor growing has significant advantages for both the grower, investor and all participants in the supply chain, especially the end user customer. It allows for a controlled growing environment that is free from issues that affect quality and safety such as weather, molds, aphids, heavy metals, and pesticides.”
“Another issue was that a major number of the hemp clones that were planted had holes all over the leaves and it was evident that plants were stressed due to their size and leaf yellowing. The farmer stated that weather had caused a late clone planting and stunted growth. This was interesting.
The weather also caused quite a bit of clone death due to over watering from the rain. The other issue was that the holes on the leaves were caused by an aphid infestation in the cloning greenhouse that continued outside that caused a large amount of damage to the plants which resulted in significant clone loses even after planting. The other farm had similar issues but I believe that they will have another significant issue due to the farmland being used to grow other crops for many, many years. I believe this will cause excessive heavy metals and pesticides in the resulting hemp flower from growing corn and soybeans on the land. This was not good news and concerned me.”
“I think outdoor growing risks have not been properly evaluated with regards to ensuring a consistent and quality supply. The reason this (outdoor grows) concerns me is that I came to realize that we would not know the status of the quality and quantity of the hemp flower until the grow was compete and we did our testing on the material. I think corporate customers that have large risks with regards to ensuring quality raw materials that are free from molds, aphids, heavy metals and pesticides should be of the utmost importance.”
“It also seems a problem with outdoor grows is that every farm in the country harvests at the same time which means by the time June comes around, the quality of the hemp’s actives (terpenes and cannabinoids) has dropped significantly and therefore the extracted oil is not as potent. I also think that a consistent and perpetual harvest (such as the way Skyway grows) in a controlled environment reduces material supply risk.
This is where indoor growing has a significant advantage for corporate customers, it allows for a controlled growing environment that is free from issues that affect quality and safety such as weather, molds, aphids, heavy metals, and pesticides. I also believe a perpetual harvest will allow for a fresh and consistent supply of hemp flowers grown under optimal conditions. Due to visiting these farms last week and seeing the issues, I now see some risks in the outdoor grown hemp supply that I didn’t think was so prevalent.
After speaking with Skyway about the technical specifics of their system and prior cannabis harvests, I am very interested in these systems in reducing the risks associated with these farmers ensuring that I have a steady and consistent supply of material grown appropriately for corporate customers who cannot accept supply and quality risks but understand that there is a higher cost burden. I have been working my own numbers and getting 6 to 7 harvests per year, which Skyway said is currently being done, makes a very interesting business case. We are looking forward to having Skyway install their towers and helping make the system successful. It can be a game changer if the towers perform as he said.”