New Season, New Challenges

As uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic continues, it's important to monitor not only the financial health of your business, but the emotional one.


Fall signals the start of harvest for outdoor growers. It also usually means schools are back in session and families are settling into their routines; however, as we all know, there is nothing routine about life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professionals in the cannabis cultivation industry have had to adjust to new realities (sheltering at home, virtual learning for many students, state or regional shutdowns, and phased re-openings and re-shutdowns, for example), all the while continuing to operate their businesses under difficult and fluctuating mandates. Teams have had to create new sanitation processes, workflows and spaces for social distancing to protect their workers, and being flexible for employees who feel sick or need to care for children who may not be able to attend school or daycare. All of this creates uncertainty on many levels.

During these times, it is increasingly important to adapt to and support the needs of your employees. The team at Canna Organix, the company profiled in this month’s issue, which you can read here, does that. It looks beyond efficiency and the bottom line when assessing its goals and values. Wendy Bentley, business manager at the Washington-based cannabis cultivation company, says, “We also value everyone’s home life, and we want to give space and support for the inherent things that come up.”

Great people make great businesses, and your team has likely had a lot of things that have come up in the past few months especially. Some cannabis companies continue to hit incredible benchmarks despite the challenging economy, new business requirements implemented on the fly, and personal struggles that individuals are quietly navigating. From conversations with cultivators who are continuing to expand operations and develop new products, to examining monthly sales figures in markets like Illinois and Massachusetts, there are many examples that the industry, as some have predicted, is largely resistant to recession.

With all of the hurdles of getting a cannabis company off the ground, people who work in this industry tend to be optimistic and adaptable to significant changes, and it’s not surprising that many U.S. businesses are performing well. But as this month’s cover story reminds us, it is equally important keep in mind what people are dealing with at home, to check in, follow up, and to monitor not only the financial health of your business, but the emotional one.

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