Heading off Cannabis Growing Pains

Heading off Cannabis Growing Pains

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

There were 500 tons of marijuana produced for sale last year according to Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division.

Additionally, Colorado ranks number one among industrial hemp growing states.

Dr. John Vaught CEO of Front Range Biosciences says there were about 18-thousand permitted acres of industrial hemp production in 2018

He and other experts in its cultivation say the growing demand for cannabis for both marijuana and hemp has also increased risk to farmers and producers.

"It's a new crop in that it has been under prohibition for many many decades. It has not been commercially produced. It has not been exposed to technologies that exist in agriculture today. Over the last ten years as this crop has been legalized in certain states and countries around the world what we're seeing is significant increase in demand and what that leads to is significant pressure on the supply chain."

And that's where Front Range BioSciences comes in he says producing high quality plants so growers at the beginning of the supply chain can avoid the costs of running their own nursery.

Vaught says the company also reduces growers' risk by creating healthy vigorous plant starts, free of pathogens such as bacteria, fungus or pests that increase early supply chain failure rates.

Vaught says the early intervention may allow this "young" crop as it grows it way toward commodity status with Colorado at the forefront.

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