It is important to commence with a different mindset

“It is important to commence with a different mindset when

it comes to cultivating medical cannabis”

As of April 1st, the New Zealand medicinal cannabis licensing scheme will become operational. The country is renowned for the very clean and natural environment and the natural resources, to the point that agricultural products from this land are valued exactly because of that. As cannabis cultivation will soon be permitted, New Zealand growers have to understand the complexities of growing such a plant for medical and pharmaceutical products. Matt Hayes with RuBisGro.com.au is an expert with regards to the different aspects of medical cannabis cultivation, from facility design to post-harvest. “I take the point of view of starting with the end product,” Matt points out. “Based on this, we start thinking backward about the production process, facility concept design and SOPs for cultivation.”

Standardized production

For instance, cannabis cultivation must be standardized and documented to substantiate that operations are performed under a Good Agricultural Collection Practice (GACP) framework. GACP starts with the facility design and audit so that cultivation best practices for cannabis cultivation can be designed-in from the start. Moving forward, auditing and documenting all production inputs: water, nutrients, media, and starting materials, is necessary to show that cultivation is consistent with GACP recommendations and meets specifications.”

“When a batch of flowers is grown and harvested, production input data is attached to this batch. This includes grow-room climatic information logged during the cycle, such as light, temperature, humidity, and CO2, that can substantiate that the batch has been grown to the specifications of the SOP, substantiating compliance.” If, for example, temperature set-points are exceeded due to hot weather, the batch may be flagged for additional QA to show that the quality and concentration of active ingredients is within specification ranges for the downstream product. Generally speaking, the least-processed finished product, such as dried flower, requires tighter control during cultivation and post-harvest processes than oil-derived products, where downstream manufacturing processes provide opportunities for further purification and standardization.

A special crop

Thus, it is quite clear that growing pharma-grade cannabis is a completely different endeavor than growing food or ornamental crops. “The main difference lies in establishing and documenting compliant operations,” Matt observes. “GACP and GMP recommendations may be new to ornamental growers for instance, however, people that have been growing food are more familiar with some form of QA and tracking systems. Another confusing area can be where GACP ends and where Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) begins. Again, this goes back to the product: for dried flower, GMP principles may be applied during primary processing and drying to ensure consistency of pharmaceutically-active metabolites, while for extracts, GMP may be applied in later manufacturing steps.

It is important to commence with a different mindset when it comes to cultivating medical cannabis,” Matt says. “The requirements for growing in a standardized and clean way are much higher. Additionally, as this is a regulated plant, licensing and security demand significant consideration from the start of any endeavor.”

It is important to commence with a different mindset when it comes to cultivating medical cannabis,” Matt says. “The requirements for growing in a standardized and clean way are much higher. Additionally, as this is a regulated plant, likening and security demand significant consideration from the start of any endeavor.”