The local cultivation and production of cannabis has been legal in Australia since 2017, albeit strictly for medical use; it can only be obtained from authorised prescribers or under a special access scheme. According to figures from the Penington Institute, the country’s current legal medicinal cannabis market is now exceeding 100 tonnes per year, with the value estimated to be between AUD500 million and AUD700 million at a patient level, and is growing at around 25% year on year.
“It takes time for the supply chains to develop, but wider patient access and knowledge has emerged in the past three years. Cannabis is now available for people in need from doctors, clinics and telehealth providers through pharmacies and dedicated dispensaries. The largest market segment is dried-flower inhalation material, but there are quite a few delivery methods available,” says Angus Murray, Cultivation Manager at Cann Group Limited in Mildura, Victoria, Australia.
To meet the market demand, Australia is still a net importer of cannabis, mainly from well-established and experienced suppliers internationally. “Imports account for around 80% of the market I believe, so the domestic production market currently has a lot of ground to make up. There are currently only about a dozen cultivation licence holders in Australia who are growing cannabis commercially on a larger scale,” continues Murray.
Established in 2014, Cann Group Ltd is one of those operational licence holders. “In fact, in March 2017, we were the first company to be issued with a Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation Licence by the Australian Government’s Office of Drug Control (ODC),” he states. Today, the company has two locations: an R&D facility in Melbourne – which is helping to lead Australian plant genetics, breeding, analysis and production techniques – and a large-scale cultivation and GMP manufacturing facility near Mildura, Victoria.
Photo: Cann Group in Australia
Solid basis
The Mildura facility has been designed to house 3.4 hectares of micro climate-controlled glasshouse cultivation space. Murray joined Cann Group Mildura around three and half years ago, and has been working as manager for most of that time. “I’ve always loved plants, and when I was gifted a book about hydroponics when I was 13 it opened my mind away from soil. I went on to study horticulture, and I set my sights on being a cannabis grower after graduating. To gain experience, I moved to Canada in 2017 and worked for a licensed producer, followed by a stint in a leading cannabis science lab on the West Coast,” he explains.
This combination of formal production horticulture training with practical cannabis training from scientists and legacy growers has given him a solid basis for heading up Cann Group’s state-of-the-art facility. “In operations, we have two departments – Cultivation and Production – which are divided at drying. My team handles the plant science work, cuttings production, through to cutdown and hanging. We then pass over to the production team for post-harvest tasks including drying, curing and finally jar-packing of our inhalation-grade flowers,” says Murray. The products are then shipped under the company’s own label ‘Botanitech’ or those of its white label customers.
Highly automated
Quality is the top priority for the company, which has the goal of becoming Australia’s premier business-to-business supplier of cannabis to the pharmaceutical sector. “Our highly automated and technologically advanced modular/semi-closed glasshouses based on Dutch greenhouse engineering enable our crops to thrive in the warm local climate,” comments Murray. “We have an automated wetting line, the plants are grown in gutters with pulsating flood irrigation, and they are moved around our facility on automated benches. We also use robots to optimally space the plants. Our focus is on standardising as much as possible to maximise speed and efficiency, because of the significant number of plants we are handling each week.”
The use of Grodan’s stone wool growing media fits well into this approach. “I’ve personally been aware of Grodan’s good reputation for many years, and Cann Group has been a customer right from 2017; even before cropping started at Mildura, we used the product at our startup facility ‘Southern’. However, for an operation of Mildura’s scale and size, and to meet the high standards of the pharmaceutical sector in terms of hygiene and quality, it simply had to be Grodan’s products,” he says. “In our propagation room, we use various types of Grodan cubes, depending on the specific cultivar, for a short vegetative phase. The cubes are then transferred onto Grodan Max cubes mechanically for the flowering phase.”
Photo: Cann Group in Australia
Superior product
“There are other stone wool products available from suppliers around the world, of course. But we’ve trialled them in the past and simply nothing compares with the water dynamics of a Grodan block,” states Murray. “Grodan have clearly nailed the porosity based on the size of the block for the specific crop type, resulting in a superior product. Their stone wool growing media make it easier to manage and consistently maintain uniform crops. This means that we can standardise the plants across the canopy: the same size and the same height.”
“Additionally, in our hot and arid climate, it’s important to prevent the plants from suffering heat stress, so we’ve installed around 45 GroSens sensors. In combination with our climate computer and own visual analysis, the sensor information about the temperature, electrical conductivity (EC) and water content percentage (WC%) in the blocks is very handy as a primary check on the crop,” continues the cultivation manager. "The use of these tools and products, with clear data visualisation for steering purposes, also makes it quicker and easier to train new employees, who often have less experience. Plus it saves us having to weigh or probe hundreds of blocks a day!”
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Ongoing support
“The Grodan team have continuously provided great support, both at the start of our operations and in the scaling-up phase. The strong local dealer network ensures a reliable supply of materials on a day-to-day basis,” he adds. “But what makes them a unique supplier in my eyes is that they don’t just sell you a product. They also help you learn how to use it for optimum results, by offering high-level advice – both through their online information resources and through the personal expertise of their experienced crop consultants, who clearly have a passion for horticulture. The consultants are willing to spend time and effort on customers, and visit us regularly – plus they are always quick to set up a call whenever we need extra coaching to further tweak our irrigation strategy.”
Photo: Cann Group in Australia
Importance of sharing knowledge
According to Murray, it is an exciting time to be involved in the Australian medicinal cannabis market because domestic production has taken off in the past three years. He welcomes this development because he believes that a strong local cultivation market is important for several reasons: “First and foremost it de-risks the supply chain. It also shortens the time in transit, which is beneficial for product quality. In addition, establishing a strong cannabis cultivation market promotes the country’s controlled environment agriculture sector in general and creates skills-based jobs. We are leaders in this in Australian cannabis.” Therefore, the company is keen to contribute to driving the whole industry forward. “As our collaboration with Grodan shows, we like to be among the first to adopt new products – such as the GroSens 2.2 platform – and we are open to working on trials,” he comments.
“We believe in the importance of sharing knowledge, which is why we are honoured to be a part of Australian Cannabis Cultivators (ACC). The group was created by the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) to provide a forum for cannabis growers interested to meet, advocate, educate and support each other. I also sit on the industry advisory council for Protected Cropping Australia. This provides an avenue for growers to reach the peak body for glasshouse and Controlled Environment Agriculture in Australia. We have the necessary natural resources and talent here in Australia, and I am confident that local licensed cannabis producers can take a meaningful share of the medicinal crop market in the coming years. And as Cann, with Grodan’s help, we are well placed to take advantage of the growing demand for locally produced, high-quality product at attractive price points,” concludes Murray.
