Many growers strive to set up cannabis operations with models that can be replicated in different locations. Imagine setting up your indoor facility somewhere in sunny California and designing it in such a way that you can replicate the exact same setup in the mountains of Colorado. But wait – how do you get starting material? Surely, you can set up a mother room, but considering the razor-thin margins of most cannabis operations, it may seem more financially savvy to increase canopy space rather than sacrificing it on the altar of breeding.
However, let's assume you want to replicate your operation somewhere else entirely – even on a different continent. With varying regulatory environments across the globe, there's no guarantee that the starting material you outsource will always be the same or of the same high quality as where you started your operation. Atiyyah Ferouz, founder of AgCann Consultancy, is acutely aware of this challenge, which is why she is launching CannVitro, an international tissue culture chain, this year. With multiple locations slated to open across four continents, the idea is straightforward: bringing high-quality tissue culture services to, or near, every cannabis market in the world.
While the idea may be simple, the old adage of "easier said than done" applies here. "There's a widespread lack of experience in cannabis tissue culture," Atiyyah explains. "There are only a small number of people in the world operating at this level. You need a strong network and good connections across the board to make something work at this scale."
Atiyyah began her journey in the cannabis industry as a Tissue Culture Lab Manager, soon after transitioning into operations and quality assurance management at a 1-million-square-foot greenhouse in Leamington, Canada. "I was tasked to commission one of the most state-of-the-art postharvest areas in the industry. I had to achieve this during COVID, when nobody could come on-site, and I found myself doing most of the work alone. Running such a giant greenhouse during that period was intense."
With a background in plant biotechnology and experience in cannabis operations, quality assurance, and regulatory affairs, she started AgCann Consultancy in 2020. "I started to help clients in a variety of areas essential to their business," she recounts. Her first clients were other 1-million-square-foot greenhouses, and she assisted them with postharvest optimization and compliance with domestic regulations. As she started working with clients across multiple continents, she began offering GACP and GMP compliance services, "We have become specialized in helping cultivators find pathways to export their products and enter international markets."
Accessing high-quality starting materials
Traveling extensively and observing the state of the industry in many different countries made Atiyyah realize the necessity for growers to have access to high-quality starting materials. Emerging markets, in particular, often lack quality nurseries and similar infrastructure. "Cultivation is one of the first things that exponentially grows in new markets and this growth is often followed by an uptick in hop latent viroid contamination," she notes. "That's when nurseries become a viable business. However, running truly clean nurseries requires a lot of experience, and releasing potentially contaminated plantlets into the market can have disastrous consequences."
That's why the first location of CannVitro will be in Thailand. As the first and only Asian country where cannabis is regulated, Thailand is poised to become a hub for the sector to thrive. "What's needed there", says Atiyyah, "is clean genetics". "Launching in Thailand is very timely, as cannabis tissue culture is still fairly new" she says. "We are setting up proprietary protocols and procedures, along with service models to be utilized across all of our locations. Ensuring a consistent experience for our clients regardless of the CannVitro location they work with."
All of this is essential to make CannVitro's operations truly replicable in other geographical locations. Shipping tissue culture clones is easier than shipping other types of plant material, allowing the company to supply growers in different regions and beyond. "We will be initially offering genetic banking services at each location to preserve the genetics that growers and breeders have worked hard to develop. We will also supply genetics from our extensive genetic library over time."
This approach can be a bit tricky for growers, as relying on the same genetic bank could lead to a lack of unique varieties. Atiyyah is well aware of this. "We have seen the pitfalls of oversupplying a genetic in the market. We will not simply be giving everyone the same genetics or supplying the same 2–3 varieties to every grower. We will conduct market analyses and work closely with our clients to understand what their production capacities will be for each genetic, ensuring growers can stand out with unique offerings. For instance, if we see that variety 1 is already prevalent in the market, we will limit the distribution of that genetic."
Keeping everything clean
The use of tissue culture also opens up possibilities for genetic manipulation, allowing varieties to be better suited to specific climates or growers. Above all, it ensures that starting materials are free from pests and pathogens. To further enhance biosecurity, Atiyyah plans to install ProGuard units by Innovative Solutions in all CannVitro locations. "I came across ProGuard at MJBizCon a few years ago and evaluated it as a solution to help clients control microbial levels. I don't recommend things unless I test them out myself – I'm a scientist after all, so I installed ProGuards at various client sites and performed air sampling. I consistently found that rooms where ProGuards had been installed tested cleaner than rooms without the units. Over time, I also realized that this unit could have broader applications than just cultivation. It can be installed in a trim room, a dry room – some clients even install it in their HVAC systems. It's a low-cost, easy-to-maintain piece of equipment that kills bacteria and pathogens. It keeps your air clean and helps you produce a cleaner product, which is paramount for all cannabis operations. Having ProGuard in our tissue culture labs provides an extra safeguard against potential contamination."
Mike D'Ambra, Founder of Innovative Solutions, explains, "For more than a decade our ProGuard sanitization technology has provided biosecurity solutions for the pharmaceutical and cannabis industries, we're proud to be a trusted partner for AgCann Consultancy. Together, we help their clients reduce microbial contamination and ensure compliance with GACP and GMP standards."
ProGuard stands out from other technologies because it combines two powerful sanitization methods that work together to eliminate mold, mildew, and harmful bacteria. D'Ambra continues, "ProGuard's Bi-Polar Ionization (BPI) technology pairs with a proprietary photocatalytic oxidation process, allowing it to actively seek out and destroy pathogens both in the air and on surfaces throughout the room. This combination makes it possible to create clean room environments that meet the strictest testing standards."
While ProGuard technology is primarily used for cultivation and post-harvest areas, D'Ambra notes that this proactive approach to clean room sanitization is also what makes ProGuard such an ideal solution for protecting CannVitro's tissue culture facilities. "With ProGuard in place, lab operators can feel confident knowing their environment is consistently sterile and free from contaminants. For researchers and cultivators focused on plant health and genetics, this peace of mind is critical knowing that they have an effective biosecurity measure in place to protect their valuable work."
Ultimately, ProGuard offers a comprehensive range of in-room or HVAC-installed systems designed to maintain the sterile environments essential for successful cannabis tissue culture propagation. D'Ambra concludes, "We're excited to partner with Atiyyah and help CannVitro deliver the highest level of tissue culture services, backed by top-tier biosecurity protection."
As a high-end operation, CannVitro offers more than just a supply-and-delivery partnership. "When clients sign up with us, they will be required to go through an education program on tissue culture to better understand our services," Atiyyah says. "We want bespoke and limited partnerships. We won't be open to everyone, and prospective clients must go through a vetting process. We want to establish mutually beneficial relationships with cultivators because although we provide the genetic material, they are the ones that have to execute a quality grow so we can both see results. I think the reason why most of our initial genetic banking spots have been filled, prior to launching our first location, is that we are taking a very unique approach to tissue culture as a service. We look forward to expanding further to support the industry with high-quality tissue culture services across multiple continents this year."
For more information:
Innovative Solutions
innovative-solutions.org
AgCann Consultancy
[email protected]
agcannconsultants.com
CannVitro
cannvitro.com