Ten top eastern Canadian Master Growers come together to pave the way for their industry
Even before their establishment in the early 90’s, CANNA’s original founders were already scientifically and passionately involved with research and development for best practice plant cultivation. The CANNAtalk initiative is a natural progression to their wide range of activities involving the community in their mission to promote knowledge and sharing. CANNA believes that collaboration between researchers, licensed producer horticulturists and the community of passionate growers is the key to success in growing plants to their full potential, while respecting their genetics and nature of both the plants and our surroundings.
Moreover, with the Canadian Cannabis industry growing at high pace and the pressures to upscale production, the CANNA team thought it was time for Master Growers to take a moment to step back. The CANNAtalk initiative is aiming to create an exclusive space for like-minded Master Growers to share and discuss their challenges, bounce ideas back and forth, and benefit from inclusive conversations.
At Expo Cannabis Montreal on October 3rd, CANNA’s team of experts joined some of the top Master Growers in Eastern Canada to partake in a round table workshop. In a positive and private setting, the group quickly felt comfortable to contribute to the conversation and the outcome resulted in exciting findings and projects to come.
Focusing on the Master Grower’s journey allowed us to highlight the unique and challenging ecosystem of the grower community and how much isolation can be felt by those in the driver’s seat. All participants came with a specific skill set, knowledge, and unique experiences relative to growing healthy plants, but we quickly found out how many more contributing forces were at hand within their daily lives. The Master Growers who are evolving alongside Canadian licensed producers must not only be successful horticulturists but deal with complex human aspects often starting with their own identity.
Within each organizational environment, things could be perceived very differently, especially within such a new industry that has yet to establish many standards. Scaling up to a large production also involves many human factors that Master Growers must now take into consideration and be held accountable for productivity and harvesting results. Not to mention Health Canada’s continuously evolving regulatory compliances and enforcement.
Within those conversations, the common and frequent challenges faced everyday were undeniable:
| Encompassing cultivation, practices and methods. | Producing high quality and volume of crops all the while keeping in touch with the craft approach. |
| Making sure the quality assurance department is in line with the high quality specifications and the need to release products on the market promptly. |
Workforce management: employee training and defining the unique role of the Master Grower in a licensed production. |
In the interviews following the Round Table exercise, Master Growers were enthusiastic and eager to speak about the experience. We believe that keeping these conversations open and ongoing will help create effective solutions and establish a real sense of community, one where collaboration takes an active part in the evolution.
Although this first round table initiative shed light on the many challenges that Master Growers experience everyday, the overall outcome was extremely positive. Their role might be challenging at the moment, but the opportunity to shape their role and be a trailblazer in this venture has brought much excitement and motivation to the table. This, is exactly why CANNA is so eager to continue to create a safe space for them and to keep sharing in order to create a sense of community and collaboration that provides a place for common goals and support. Working closely together to help guide the industry’s evolution in the right direction.
In the next few weeks, we will publish a number of articles in which we will learn more details of the 4 groups of challenges Master Growers deal with. The data that came out of this Round Table experience will certainly shed a light into your own daily struggles of growing healthy plants. We can’t wait to share more insights with the grower community. There will be even more to come for any level of passionated growers. The next chapter of the CANNAtalk experience will take place in January 2020 in Vancouver, and we can’t wait to see what West coast Master Growers have to contribute to the movement!
