Agricultural and industry advancements have helped us discover why light is so beneficial to plant production and that its manipulation can improve plant growth and increase yields. To craft lighting plans, cannabis cultivators often ask: What should my photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) levels be? What is the ideal spectrum? Is my Daily Light Integral (DLI) timed right?
Indeed, cultivation business owners and operators have become savvier about light quality’s importance to their crops’ health, yields, and cannabinoid and terpene contents. They commonly seek evidence of a lighting product’s effectiveness before they buy—that’s according to the third-annual Cannabis Business Times’ “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report, where 72% of research respondents rated “scientific research supporting product development” as “important” or “very important” to lighting purchase decisions.
This year’s report offers Cannabis Business Times’ most in-depth lighting market research to date. With three years of data, trends have begun to emerge, from lighting types used (for example, more cultivators said they are using LEDs across all cannabis growth stages, compared to previous studies) to vertical farming practices (which showed an 18 percentage-point jump from 2016), and more.
In addition to the raw data, you’ll find practical information on how to conduct lighting tests (S. 10), how growers can work with utility companies to obtain maximum rebates (S. 13), and The Design Light Consortium’s first-ever baseline standard for horticulture lighting manufacturers and how it can help utility companies and growers (S. 14).Thanks to Fluence Bioengineering’s generous support (for the third consecutive year), Cannabis Business Times was again able to partner with nationally recognized research company Readex Research to study cultivators throughout North America about their lighting usage and related practices. And thank you, Cannabis Business Times’ readers, for participating in this important research project.
