There's quite a difference between doing research for the sake of it and having it fit a business case. This is the crucial lesson Ian Justus learned while working with Driscoll's, a lesson he has applied as SVP of Cultivation Operations at Connected Cannabis. "At Driscoll's, I started as a strawberry plant breeder," he recounts. "But my CEA background surfaced as a unique skill set for the company. That's how I ended up leading applied research." In other words, Ian transitioned from breeding new varieties to innovating for commercial growers and commercializing new genetics.
Staring outdoors, now indoors
Connected Cannabis now grows its product indoors, but it wasn't always this way. The company had with an outdoor grow a light-deprivation greenhouse, and, multiple indoor facilities but things evolved over time. "The pandemic lockdown had a profound impact on cannabis," Ian explains. "It created an artificial demand, with sales and prices rising. Companies expanded during that bubble, and when it popped, all that was left was an oversupplied market." This resulted in a 70% loss in market prices. While indoor production maintained its position in the premium segment, outdoor production dropped to the bottom of the market. "Growing outdoors is much more challenging from a cash flow perspective," Ian points out. "There's a big cash outflow leading up to harvest time, and ultimately, you're sitting on a huge inventory for months. When we did it, it was profitable, but it wasn't the right business choice for us. It just wasn't an attractive business anymore."
Ian has always been fascinated by indoor farming. Unlike outdoor production, indoor farming operates in a perpetual harvest cycle, where growers are constantly rotating plants and harvesting. "On top of that, you rely on a stable and consistent system. Top-shelf, premium cannabis is one of the hardest things to achieve consistently in the cannabis industry. Indoor growing allows us to replicate our quality in different geographic locations." Connected Cannabis is not only active in California but also in Arizona and Florida. "We started in California, which has the best conditions for growing outdoors. However, outdoor cultivation isn't an easily replicable system, which is a huge pitfall when trying to scale up and expand to states with different climates." In other words, outdoor production management is very localized. With indoor farming, however, the grower is essentially creating the climate with engineering. "If, the main question to ask yourself is: How do I scale and replicate premium quality flower? The answer is: facility design and functionality. I have a fantastic facilities team and management infrastructure. We can go to a site, assess the equipment, and use our custom set points to replicate the growing climate." It all starts with a crucial point: proper facility design. However, that's not easy to achieve. "We built two major facilities during the pandemic," Ian explains. "My project manager, a former Driscoll colleague, is excellent at this. During that period, there was one of the worst supply chains ever." Everyone remembers the absurd lead times, skyrocketing prices, and other challenges. "But all of that was built into our timeline. It's hard to build a multimillion-dollar facility quickly and efficiently but the business depends on meeting those timelines, and you need a dramatically different skill set for that, which makes getting good advice difficult. We decided we didn't want to have to outsource that skill set."
All that effort eventually paid off, as Connected Cannabis now relies on a full in-house breeding program and genetic pipeline. "We have a centralized nursery in California where we make our pollen, our seeds, crossing, and propagation," says Ian. "Our breeding program has implemented several speed breeding techniques made allowable by indoor farming."
Quality at all cost
The ultimate goal is to achieve quality that stands out in such a competitive market like California. "We've developed new metrics to assess how the plant is performing and put it into a feedback loop that informs our strain-level protocols." It doesn't matter if a strain is difficult to grow to a certain quality level because "we will go the extra mile if it's worth the product offering," Ian says. "We quantify the different attributes, and everything we grow is the result of conscious decisions." For instance, Ian notes that Connected Cannabis has the real Zkittlez variety. "It's one of the best cannabis experiences on the market. The flavor, smell, and quality of the smoke – it checks all the boxes. However, it's one of the most difficult plants to grow. But we integrated that into our schedule planning. There are several challenges related to its cultivation and post-harvest time, but in the end, it's a worthy offering in our portfolio. We follow our protocols and continue iterating on how we can constantly improve its quality, expression, and performance. We're pretty good at understanding the plants for what they are."
Ian explains that every strain is like an employee: "They have their strengths and weaknesses, so it's essential to understand them so we can manage their best fit in the team."Quality has been the guiding principle for Ian and Connected Cannabis. "We're not chasing yield for the sake of it; we're chasing quality. Interestingly, however, they often come together. When the plant is balanced, it produces the best quality and the best commercial results. We observe how the plant evolves over time and adapts to how it grows."
Unlike traditional horticulture growers, cannabis growers mainly sell dried horticultural products. "It's a crop that keeps you honest in that way," says Ian. "Cannabis yield is hard to gauge at harvest because all the water is getting pulled out of those buds. With most produce, you're just selling water, but with cannabis, you're selling plant dry matter and that is the most honest gauge of how the plant grew. This also means you need to thoroughly quantify your trials to understand if you are making the right progress; that's why we focus on this R&D-led approach."
For more information:
Connected Cannabis Co. 
www.connectedcannabisco.com