BCBusiness

December 2019 - January 2020 Best Cities for Work in B.C.

With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.

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The legalization of cannabis in Canada recently hit its one-year anniversary, but the industry is facing significant growing pains. The cannabis hype has fuelled grand illusions about profits at the expense of quality control and pub- lic health and safety, among other issues. The mid-1990s dot-com bubble and 2000 implosion should serve as a cautionary tale to the cannabis industry, when startups were in a race to get big fast. History seems to be repeating itself. This past year, commercial cultivators' big expectations were dashed as the push for scale outweighed regard for health and safety and environmental concerns. Many, wanting to get out ahead, dove in without a strategic plan in place. They purchased large pieces of land, built even larger indoor facilities or greenhouses and took what was currently known about cultivation and made it bigger—rather than looking to see what would work the best within the context of this new industry. The results are serious problems, including high water and high electricity usage, as well as the ongoing threat of toxins and pathogens, which leads to high operating costs—and an inability to consistently produce high-quality crops that meet health and safety standards. When everyone else jumped in with both feet, the Canivate team analyzed what could be done—not just differently, but better. They did their due diligence; they created a foundation of excellence for the plant, for the cultivator and for the consumer. Today, Canivate is years ahead of others in the industry with its innovative proprietary, technologically advanced facility design and automated growing system called The Canivate Way. The Canivate Way creates a new category of growing environment for cannabis, hemp and other high-value crops. Canivate facilities use up to 90 percent less energy, 90 percent less water, 40 percent less fertilizer and 50 percent less labour costs compared to traditional indoor grow facilities and most greenhouses. Canivate also has the ability to utilize uniquely formulated nutrients and minerals to create a fertigation system that optimizes growth and produces USDA-equivalent organic plants. "Our facility design and automated growing system is a disruptor in the agtech industry," says Ingo Mueller, Canivate's CEO. "We didn't look at what was there and make it bigger; we created a baseline for what cultivation should produce: Clean. Green. Pure. It's the new gold standard for this industry and Canivate is leading the way." ■ thecanivateway.com How this Canadian company is solving the serious issues of commercial cannabis cultivation GETTING PAST THE GROWING PAINS C R E AT E D BY BCBusiness I N PA RT N E RS H I P W IT H CANIVATE GROWING SYSTEMS LTD.

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