As a famous Italo-American basketball commentator used to say, "another round, another gift", as we continue with our special series to celebrate 4/20; today, it is time of Timo Bongartz with Fluence Engineering, and David Parry, CEO of Cannsun.
Fluence Engineering
“For Fluence is very interesting to look at the cultivation,” says Timo Bongartz with Fluence, a lighting company that has conducted extensive research on how to drive the plants’ growth through lighting strategies. “We see that Switzerland is on the CBD market and is competing very strongly. But now they are also doing a very exciting THC program, as there will be different cultivars for the participants to choose from. Next to Switzerland, there is the Netherlands with the equally exciting cannabis supply chain experiment: since growers would supply coffee shops, they have to provide them with a wide enough portfolio of cultivars that can appeal to customers.”
“Then, there are countries like Germany, where the three LPs are going to start growing this year. All over, we see that every step in the value chain is getting more mature: the ecosystem is getting very diverse, with many corporates as well as start-ups, with money coming from different private sectors. That is definitely a strong indication that the market is maturing.”
Cannsun
“We are seeing a very positive wind of change coming from Thailand, South Africa, and Greece on moving cannabis ahead from being a drug to a natural product,” says David Parry, CEO of Cannsun, a cannabis company with operations in those three countries. “At the same time, we need to get patients better access to medical cannabis in South Africa. To do this, it is imperative to educate doctors more, as they are in the EU and the US. Overall, the medical system has been slower than in the US.”
Recently, there has been some unrest among small growers in South Africa, lamenting the high entry barrier into the cannabis industry. “Some small growers are not happy about the difficulty in accessing the market,” David explains. “The issue here is that the infrastructure should catch up with the market. We have a lot of interest in some unique South African genetics that some growers grow here, as well as buying flowers directly from them. But there is no legislation in place for that, and since this is a medical industry, if we had to source some flowers from local growers, those flowers would need to be tested and all of that. As soon as legislation is in place, we will certainly embrace collaborations with local growers.”