Sustainability: Nutrients and the Cannabis Industry
Andrew Harling
Director of R&D
Grow Generation
Last week on the sustainable cannabis coalition podcast we discussed the current state of nutrients in the cannabis industry, how the availability of raw materials in the future will require farmers to develop increasingly sustainable practices and we touched on some of the steps that could be taken to minimize the ecological impact of the cannabis industry moving forward.
At the present time, with few exceptions, the commercial cannabis industry as well as the Big AG community in the United States is dominated by the use of synthetic or salt-based fertilizers. There are a handful of commercial farms out there employing more sustainable practices which emphasize the use of organic fertilizers and/or true living soils, but those that have successfully scaled these techniques are few and far between.
This is due to a number of factors, operating cost is always a significant driver for business owners and salt-based fertilizers are readily available and provide a very inexpensive source of food for crops. Ease of use and compatibility with different irrigation systems and media types are also major considerations. For example, if you are running a large-scale drip irrigation system, salt-based nutrients are typically less likely to cause clogging of drip lines than organics. This in turn translates to less man hours spent inspecting, cleaning, or replacing drip lines and less likelihood of plant fatality or crop loss stemming from these issues. There are also issues of compatibility when using organic nutrients with certain types of popular hydroponic growing medias like Rockwool and Hydroton as over time they tend to create headaches like algae growth and other unwanted pathogens or pest pressures.
Operating a large-scale cannabis farm using truly sustainable practices and nutrients demands a greater level of skill from the grower. It requires a much more comprehensive understanding of soil biology and the critical relationships that exists between plants roots, soil bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. To create a successful living soil that can be used over and over again with minimal inputs is somewhat of an art to me. Every once in a while I see one that blows my mind and when done right they can produce some of the best flowers you will ever see, taste or smell.
Looking to the future, scientists estimate based on current consumption levels and current population growth rates man will have potentially depleted all mined sources of phosphorous within the next several decades. This is a critical macro nutrient for almost all crops and cannabis is no exception. If this proves true it will dramatically impact both the cannabis industry and the agricultural/food producing community at large but there is a possible silver lining in all of this. As these elements become increasingly scarce it will force farmers to re-examine current practices and move towards more sustainable techniques, use of organic fertilizer inputs, composting, and development of true living soil programs.
