The tendency for many cultivation start-ups—especially those new to horticulture—is for the head grower to wear many hats.
Although it’s tempting to have your team’s cultivation expert advise on everything under the sun, few are qualified to do so.
Your master grower is not your master electrician. Unless your grower has an engineering degree, leave the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing decisions up to experts in those fields.
Even if your grower could do it, why take the chance?
For decades, cannabis growers have fulfilled these roles to limit the number of people that knew about their illicit operation. But now that US states are legalizing commercial cannabis cultivation, entrepreneurs can take advantage of the same professional service providers as any other industry.
To avoid complications, have your grower first meet with management to determine the company’s cultivation strategy.
This plan will dictate how cannabis will be grown and processed within the facility.
Once there is conceptual agreement on this strategy, move forward by involving the other trades, but ensure that your grower is privy to all planning discussions and design meetings.
This will help guarantee that no engineering decisions made in the architect’s office negatively affect the company’s ability to execute its cultivation strategy.
Any potential red flags will be immediately apparent to your grower and can be addressed while things are still in the planning phase.
Here are some examples of best practices for utilizing everyone’s strengths:
You hired your grower to grow, and you wouldn’t expect anyone else to do their job. Likewise, it wouldn’t make sense for your grower to start filling the roles of other trades, even in the earliest stages of a start-up.
At this juncture of a young business, the recipe for success is simple: Establish a cultivation strategy with your grower and ensure they remain part of the planning process with all subcontractors and trades.
Your grower is not your electrician, plumber, or HVAC expert. And for good reason! Remember this, and everybody wins.
Ryan Douglas helps businesses cultivate a profitable future in the cannabis industry. He is the founder of Ryan Douglas Cultivation, LLC and author of From Seed to Success: How to Launch a Great Cannabis Cultivation Business in Record Time. Ryan has worked in commercial horticulture for 25 years and specializes in legal cannabis start-ups.
Before entering the cannabis industry, Ryan spent 15 years as a commercial greenhouse grower of ornamental and edible crops, growing up to 600,000 plants annually. As Master Grower from 2013 to 2016, he directed cultivation for Tweed Inc., the flagship subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corporation. Ryan now offers cultivation advisory services to cannabis operators worldwide, and he can be reached through his website, douglascultivation.com.
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