Perhaps the most critical motivation behind the construction of our cultivation facility has been to maintain a sustainable operation. The sun has been harnessed as the primary source of energy in the agriculture industry for years, but with the cannabis industry utilizing more than just outdoor space, indoor cultivation methods, as well as climate-controlled greenhouse operations, are gaining in popularity due to their enhancement in overall output quality and yield. Often, with this comes unsustainable energy consumption, but it doesn't have to lead to this conclusion. Instead, we can use our innovative nature to come up with creative solutions to these common obstacles.
Usually, the north and south end walls of a greenhouse are solid structures that can shade sections of our garden. This is especially true for us farmers who are unable to position our greenhouses to run precisely north and south due to property restrictions. The increase in shaded areas due to the placement can significantly affect our overall yield and quality, typically creating the need for more artificial lighting sources. It was this predicament, along with our desire to be sustainable, that led us to find the solution to our shadow issues within the garden. Through the use of smart farming technologies, we began to track the sun's movement in the sky, identifying shadowed areas within our cultivation space. The sun-tracking app Lumos is a technology that can predict the location of the sun at any given time, date, or place. We took this data and mapped out the sun's position throughout the year, recognizing that we could significantly increase the amount of sunlight that reaches our canopy by custom building the greenhouse's usually permanent north and south end walls.
This inspiration has become a plan of action, and we have been hard at work constructing a custom-built, automated greenhouse located on our Philo property. It utilizes the sun's energy to its full potential through retractable end walls, allowing us to open otherwise blocked sections of the greenhouse to invite more natural sunlight into the canopy. When supplemental lighting is needed, we use LEDs, the most sustainable artificial lighting choice. For these occasions when we must be plugged into the grid, our energy comes from renewable sources, thanks to Sonoma Clean Power’s EverGreen program. We lower and block the sunlight only during the seasons when we need to utilize light deprivation, but this has increased our additional sunlight exposure on our canopy by 10-15 percent, thus resulting in a significant uptick in our quality and output. Some of the components used to create this greenhouse are recycled materials that have been sourced from around our farm, such as wood salvaged from a collapsed barn on our property. With the pieces that are safe to use, we build the structural parts of this system, and lower our ecological footprint in the process.
At this time, we are still building and testing our "beta" system. With our new knowledge, we strive to blend modern technology with existing natural resources, and hope to inspire others to do the same. For us to be successful and sustainable, we must work with our natural elements, like our land restrictions and the sun's locational pattern, then build a system around that. We must find creative solutions that use as little human-made energy as possible while still providing the necessary tools to cultivate cannabis that meets the exceptional quality standards and high yields that our buyers demand. Through smart farming technologies and a creative mind, this is possible for all of us in the California cannabis industry.
Are you interested in a farm tour? We would love to show you around. With the shelter-in-place order, we are open to virtual tours and will be uploading videos of our facility for you to check out. Click here to fill out a wholesale account form. We will contact you with inventory information and answer any questions you might have about our process and facility.