Technology seems to be that endless dragon that humans are always chasing and agricultural technology is no different. Farming work started with bare hands then hoe and plow, then donkeys, then aqueducts and irrigation, then tractors and now drones. Where does it end?! And also, where does equipment tie in with organic versus conventional growing methods? These are questions that don’t have straight forward answers. For example, most large-scale commercial cannabis growers nowadays utilize some sort of tumbler trimming machine. It is simply not feasible or perhaps affordable is a better word, to hand-trim literally hundreds or even thousands of pounds at a time even with crews of 20 plus. That said, the true connoisseurs know that nothing can beat the quality of a hand-trim because a significantly larger portion of trichomes remain intact. How much of a difference this makes to the average consumer is up for debate but it’s little nuances like these that make use cases for equipment in cannabis (and traditional ag) so interesting to me.
Types of equipment by stage
Some stages of the seed to sale cycle require more automation or rather benefit from it, more than others. Recently, manufacturers seem to be the ones trending. To be fair, many argue that growing is more of an art than a science and I believe this does hold weight as there is more than one way to grow, even commercially speaking. Getting everything bagged up, extracted or packaged is a lot more clear cut and thus has more compatibility for repetition and automation. We are seeing some cultivators utilize more automation such as conveyor belts or overhead trolley systems for medium containers but much of the work still relies on humans. Ditto for drip irrigation and so on. Another thing to be cognizant of is who’s funding the automation. What goals do they have in mind? Are they to cut labor and costs or to increase productivity and volume? Neither is inherently bad as long as the strategy is matched to the brand (needs). Below are some common types of equipment found in most indoor and greenhouse cannabis facilities, categorized by stage of the seed to sale process. Please note that this is just a basic list and some facilities have much more expansive needs. Also, outdoor equipment will be explained in further detail in a separate article.
Common examples of cultivation equipment
- Lights
- Conveyor belt systems
- Shears
- Container trolley systems
- Loppers
- Drip lines
- Large barrels for fertigation and cleaning
- Wells and plumbing pipes
Common examples of manufacturing equipment
- Industrial tumbler trimmers
- Shears for hand-trimming
- Conveyor belt systems
- Bud size sorters
- Industrial bagging automators
- Automatic labelers
- Heat sealers
- Pre roll assembly machines
- Large grinders
Common examples of extraction equipment
- Large vats for mixing
- Mesh bags
- Large-scale pressing equipment
- Freeze dryers
- Refrigerators
- Paddles for mixing and agitating
- Hydro-carbon machines
- Ethanol distillation closed-loop systems
Machinery’s role in organic versus conventional
As diet comes more into focus in the lens of human health, demand for organic food has generally increased. Granted, it’s not as much as one would think and that’s generally due to price. The percentage of consumers that are truly willing to pay for organic food at the end of the day is smaller than those who say they want organic food or even say they’re willing to pay for it. Saying and doing are two different things, who would’ve thought?! To be fair, cannabis follows a similar trend. The amount of consumers willing to pay for craft, which in my opinion would be defined as 200$ per ounce or even higher, is fairly low. If I had to estimate a number, I’d probably say 25% or less. The data is still out on this though. The point is, there is a lot of pent-up demand for organic but even less real demand; which has hurt organic farmers as I’m sure many of you can attest to. This has also ignited a debate about to what extent machinery can be involved in organic production
When most people think of organic, they also think of hand-made and something that a skilled craftsman was behind. Technically speaking, they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I have seen both outdoor farms and indoor grows that utilize a high level of machinery and automation but only use organic inputs and grow methods. Laboratory testing has helped root out some bad actors that use bad inputs or grow methods but not all. It has also helped organic growers manage their crops more holistically and avoid the use of synthetic sprays and fertilizers. All in all, I think we can reasonably conclude that equipment itself does not cross the organic/conventional boundary, at least technically speaking. If anything, it seems that equipment and especially automated equipment, can actually help organic growers more; either through managing their current crops better or even expanding in a sustainable way. Next, let’s talk about where equipment in cannabis is compared to conventional ag equipment.
Cannabis-specific equipment
Due to cannabis’ status as a schedule 1 drug, research has lagged, generally speaking. Traditional crops like berries, nuts, veggies, etc. benefit from having much of their R&D outsourced to Universities and extension programs. Cannabis has not had that same access. Research includes equipment too, if that’s not already obvious. Many of the more “traditional” growing methods of cannabis, especially indoors, came from the black market and thus were even further behind other crops. Most of these have now been adapted or transformed for efficiency, scale and safety but not all. On this same note, we typically see more of a convergence of grow methods, genetics and operations when these extension programs are built out and successful. So naturally, cannabis on the other hand, still seems to have the cat out of the bag on the best way to do things. Or perhaps it’s possible that cannabis is just a unique crop that is tolerable to multiple ways of doing things. Either way, this has made equipment more difficult in cannabis compared to conventional crops. Both from a pricing (from vendors) standpoint as well as general accessibility and compatibility. Cannabis farmers however are inherently intuitive folks and have learned to adapt as more suppliers come online into the mainstream.
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