11 Tips for Outdoor or Greenhouse Expansion

This article originally appeared in the July/August print edition of Cannabis Business Times. To subscribe, click here.

Myriad reports published during the last year have pointed to the energy-intensive nature of indoor cultivation operations. Simultaneously, legal cannabis markets have experienced falling prices. For commercial cultivators — the majority of whom grow indoors — declining prices means shrinking margins and a necessary emphasis on efficiency. To ameliorate the high costs of indoor gardening and falling market prices, many businesses are seeking to establish new operations or convert existing ones to greenhouse or outdoor models — logical solutions, since economic factors will eventually dictate that cannabis be produced just like virtually every other agricultural commodity (not indoors). Converting to more traditional, large-scale agricultural models, however, takes careful planning and deliberate strategies.

If you are considering cultivation approaches that rely primarily on natural light, this column will help guide you. As the challenges and costs are unique to your business's geography, there is no universal solution; but the considerations and questions that must be addressed would apply to anyone considering a change in cultivation model.

To read the full article in our July/August edition, click here.