German Embassy: Quality Organic Cannabis Starts with Living Soil
/This month, German lawmakers and members of the German Federal Parliament’s Health Committee visited the United States for a series of meetings and tours intended to help them develop regulations and a structure for the country’s forthcoming legal adult-use cannabis market.
After touring a Lowell Farms cultivation facility in California that uses bio365 living soil, the German Consulate in San Francisco shared a tweet saying, “Quality organic cannabis starts with living soil.”
What Happened During the Greenhouse Tour?
The team at bio365 facilitated the tour of the Lowell Farms facility for the German lawmakers to give them a chance to see a cultivation operation at scale. Tim Peyton from bio365 joined the delegates on the tour of the facility, which has over 145,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse under glass.
“The most interesting part of the tour for me was engaging with the German delegates as they got perspectives from three different angles – from Mark Ainsworth, the CEO for Lowell Farms; Shane Yoakam, the head grower at Lowell Farms; and me as the bio365 representative and former license holder in a legal state who has personal experience with legalization and program roll out issues.”
During the tour of the nursery and flowering bays, Shane shared details about how plants are moved through the cycle. Hop Latent Viroid (HLVd) was also discussed with a focus on how to avoid it and how to stay clean. The delegates were interested to hear that bio365 media contains biochar, which is not only a valuable soil amendment but also sequesters carbon in its production.
“The Health Committee delegates of the Federal Parliament for Germany were very interested in quality and cleanliness,” shared Tim. “We talked about the use and benefits of biologically active cultivation media, such as the bio365 substrate used at Lowell Farms. We also discussed integrated pest management practices to avoid the use of pesticides and chemicals, which is something that bio365 soil helps reduce.”
In addition to soil and IPM, the German delegates were interested in packaging waste and the challenges of composting parts of the cannabis plant (e.g., the rootball) due to the classification as dangerous or hazardous materials. LED lighting and related benefits to the power grid were discussed as well. Since Germany has a much shorter outdoor season than California, the Parliamentary members wanted to learn about the use of LEDs and hybrid greenhouse utilization vs. straight indoor artificial light.
Concerns About Legalization and Regulations
While the German lawmakers were clear that adult-use cannabis would be available to German consumers in the future, it was evident during the tour that health and safety are top priorities. Conversations also focused on challenges and problems that Tim, Shane, and Mark have faced in California and Canada based on their experiences in the U.S. legal cannabis market.
Some concerns that Tim, Shane, and Mark discussed with the Delegates to help them as they move forward included:
Flooding the market with an excessive numbers of licenses
Excessive regulations that don’t help farmers, such as regulations that ensure the state gets tax dollars but not ensuring farmers are paid fairly
Testing issues
Environmental issues, such as energy and water conservation
“It was an honor to tour the Lowell Farms facility with the delegates from Germany,” says Tim. “They were interested in the issues we had experienced and got all of our varied perspectives, which they’ll take back with them as they develop their own market structure and program rules.” They’ll also return to Germany knowing that – as the German Consulate in San Francisco tweeted – “Quality organic cannabis starts with living soil.”