Tomorrow’s Cultivation Track Keynotes

This year’s cultivation track will feature five keynote talks throughout the day. David Hodes, Cannabis Science and Technology columnist, will present “Innovations in Terpene Development” at 10:00 am. Jill Ellsworth of Willow Industries will give a keynote titled “Cannabis Contamination and Why a Kill-Step is Necessary” at 10:30 am. At 1:30 pm, Dr. Jacklyn Green and Dr. Roger Kern of Agate Biosciences will present “Clean Cannabis” in a special video discussion. Autumn Karcey of Alchemy 29 will speak at 2:10 pm in a keynote titled “Sustainability in Indoor Cultivation Design.” Finally, Amazon John Easterling of Happy Tree Microbes will give a remote video keynote at 4:00 pm titled “Options and Opportunities for Cannabis Cultivators Now.” All talks will talk place in cultivation room 308.

Hodes’ talk will focus on the rise and growing popularity of other, lesser known cannabinoids—cannabigerol, cannabichromene, and others—including discussion of methods used to increase their production in the plant, how they are being used in products, and what makes them a better choice for production, processing, and sale than cannabidiol (CBD) and THC.

Ellsworth’s talk will give a comprehensive overview of potential microbial contaminants, such as mold and bacteria, that can adversely affect harvests and consumers. The session will also discuss the importance of partnering with a trusted decontamination provider, understanding why you should implement a kill step, and state specific testing rules.

Drs. Green and Kern will be covering a set of tools to minimize the level of contamination during cultivation and further reduce it by post-harvest processing to assure meeting state standards.

Karcey will discuss how various environmental parameters can determine the selection between indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse facilities. She will explore the thresholds of scaling a cultivation business while making well-informed financial and technological decisions. Dive into how facility design and construction practices can help to minimize the overall introduction, generation, and retention of airborne particulates, pests, and pathogens. In conclusion, she will discuss walking the fine line between commercialization and craft cannabis and what cultivators can do to help raise standards while staying competitive by lowering their overall cost of goods sold (COGS).

Finally, Easterling will discuss the many choices cannabis growers have and how each one plays a vital role in determining growth, yield, quality, and sustainability. These choices include terms like indoor, outdoor, greenhouse, genetics, seed, clone, auto-flower, full term, light deprivation, soil, hydro, dry farm, compost, nutrients, teas, IPM, organic regenerative, microbes, living soil, and many more.

For more information on the cultivation track, please visit the 2021 Cannabis Science Conference East Final Program & Exhibitor Guide.