New Technology will Dramatically Change the Cannabis Industry
Gone are the days of old hippies wearing tie-dyed shirts growing marijuana in guarded conditions. Today, the cannabis industry is attracting investment and developing technologies that would make NASA envious. Here’s a look at some of the innovations hitting the market:
Grasshopper Kiosks:
Grasshopper is result of a collaboration of long-time cannabis industry champions and top merchandising professionals, to develop a new compliant cannabis merchandising system. Grasshopper has a suite of ADA compliant automated kiosks and teller assist technologies that improve customer transaction times, drive greater revenues, and create new ways to purchase products through safe, secure dispensing systems.
Grasshopper’s TellerAssist™ is a proprietary sales and management system that allows customers to make a purchase inside a retail location via a tablet. Checkout occurs with the aid of a live teller with their products dispensed securely through an automated Grasshopper Kiosk or Grasshopper Locker.
Grasshopper systems are gaining traction with forward-thinking dispensaries that want to be a part of the evolution of retailing.
Grow Pod Solutions
Grow Pod Solutions has developed the world’s most advanced indoor agriculture and vertical farming systems. The shipping container-based systems are fully automated, and feature innovations such as Bipolar Ionization that reduces dust, mold, odors and bacteria. The system recycles its water, has minimal energy costs, and produces a clean, pesticide-free crop.
The automated “Grow Pods” can be placed almost anywhere, and offer a turnkey method to start growing herb immediately, with harvest yields that exceed virtually any other method of cultivation. For added convenience, the entire system can be monitored and adjusted from anywhere using a phone app.
The company offers the units for sale to growers for placement virtually anywhere, or in their giant cultivation center in Nipton, California, which allows individuals to purchase a pod as a passive investment, where all the work is done by a team of cultivation, packaging and distribution experts.
Success Nutrients
Success Nutrients, from Medicine Man Technologies, is a product line of 9 different types of micro nutrients that produce stronger plants, healthier flowers, and higher yields. Developed by growers for growers, the company has revolutionized modern cultivation by providing plants with their precise nutrient requirements at every stage of development.
For instance, “Success Blast Off” is formulated to promote root and plant growth in the early phases of cultivation, while “Success Flowers” encourages the plants to develop in the flowering phase.
Other products, such as “Success Silica” are beneficial to help plants flourish in adverse environmental conditions such as heat, drought or frost.
The products represent the latest in nutrient delivery technology, and are available at www.successnutrients.com or www.medicinemantechnologies.com
Titan BioPlastics
Titan BioPlastics is technically in the hemp industry, but as a cousin to cannabis, and because they are doing such remarkable things, we have included it on our list.
Plastics manufacturing is a leading contributor to waste, which ends up in waterways, oceans, and landfills. By providing a one-for-one, interchangeable and sustainable alternative ingredient blend that can be utilized in existing equipment and processes, Titan Bioplastics effectively replaces unsustainable products and processes with sustainable ones. The company is working with manufacturers in a variety of industries, including packaging, automotive, paper-products, and construction.
The company also produces hemp plastic composites and hemp graphene, which can be used in hundreds of applications, including solar panels, water purification systems, batteries, touch screens and capacitors. Current graphene production costs are roughly $1.8 Billion/ton, whereas hemp bio-waste graphene can be produced at just $5,000/ton.
The company has secured a strategic alliance to distribute industrial hemp from an organization in Thailand that works with over 4,000 local farmers, with the capacity to grow over 1 million acres annually.
Hyasynth Bio
Hyasynth Bio is helping patients with epilepsy by creating CBDV.
What is CBDV? Cannabidivarin (CBDV) is a naturally-occurring phytocannabinoid that occurs in small traces in certain strains of the cannabis plant. Although less studied than its more famous counterparts such as THC and CBD, research is beginning to uncover the medical potential of CBDV to treat epilepsy and other neurological conditions.
However, to treat just 10 percent of people with epilepsy would require around 1500 tons of pure CBDV. There’s so little of this chemical in plants it would actually be impossible to harvest it by traditional means.
That’s why the firm has turned to cellular agriculture, in which crops are made from cell cultures. It has added the chunk of cannabis DNA that codes for CBDV into yeast DNA, which turns the yeast into CBDV production plants. This allows for rapid, large-scale CBDV creation with none of the concerns around growing marijuana.
Once optimized, using microbes like yeast will make harvesting compounds such as CBDV efficient and cost-effective.
