Cannabis Cultivation and Science Podcast

Certifications within the Cannabis industry are a lot more complicated than one would think at first glance. Andrew Black is the Certified Kind Founder and Director. Andrew spent the past 11 years working for Oregon Tilth, one of the nation’s most trusted organic certification agencies. Andrew has worn many hats in organic certification, including Farm Program Manager, Inspector, Final Reviewer, Latin American Specialist, and Certification Officer. Andrew has inspected hundreds of farms and food processing facilities in the United States and Latin America and has made certification decisions for hundreds more.  https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-56

This week’s podcast is with David Bronner, CEO aka Cosmic Engagement Officer for Dr. Bronners, the top selling brand of natural soaps in North America. Not only do they make the best soap, but they’ve dedicated themselves to advocacy around our food supply, regenerative organic agriculture, animal welfare, fair labor practices, and responsible integration of cannabis and psychedelic medicine into American and global culture. In my opinion, this is one of the best examples of how a company can operate ethically and sustainably in today’s society and it was an honor to spend this time with David. I could spend the entire podcast just talking of all the amazing thing Dr. Bronner’s has done for the community and it’s employees, but the main purpose was to discuss their partnership on the Sun and Earth Certification for cannabis and the non-profit David has helped in establishing called Brother David’s.   https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-55

I sit down on the other side of the microphone this week with John Z and cover a wide variety of listener questions ranging from soil microbes to compost teas to re-amending living soils and much more.

Colin Bell is the Co-founder, co-inventor and Chief Growth Officer at Growcentia, parent company of Mammoth. Colin completed his Ph.D. in Soil Microbial Ecology in 2009. As a Research Scientist at Colorado State University, Colin published dozens of peer reviewed publications that were focused on elucidating microbial mediated processes that enhance plant growth. Colin left his academic position at Colorado State University in March 2015 to launch Mammoth, a young company in the Ag-Tech sector that develops microbial biostimulants to sustainably increase plant yield, and all natural biocontrol products to prevent pests. Their first product, MAMMOTH P® is a beneficial bacterial bloom stimulant that targets phosphorus cycling to maximize both quality and yield in cannabis plants.

My podcast this week is with Justin Magill. Justin is an owner and head grower for Legit Farms, a legal cannabis company in the recreational market here in Washington State. I wanted to do this podcast because Justin has been growing in Living Soils longer than anyone else I know and he was instrumental in helping me in testing out various ideas around soil mixes, soil testing, and re-amending in beds. https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-52    

In this podcast, I interview Dr. Ben Higgins, Chief Research Scientist at Goldleaf Gardens.  We discuss how to interpret research, create useful data in your facility, and a new white paper on pots vs living soil beds. We also touch on some preliminary results on trials relating toBlumats, Mammoth P, and BIOS lighting. Ben and I were also proud to announce a new consulting group called Kaizen Consulting that is comprised of myself, Ben, Nate Gibbs (owner of Goldleaf Gardens), Allison Justice of Outco, and Chris Jagger of Blue Fox Ag. All of these folks have been on my podcast so you can hear more about them on there. If you are interested in consulting please go to www.growwithkaizen.com. Thanks for listening! https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-51

In honor of our 50th episode, I wanted to get Jeff, our very first podcast guest and old friend, back on the show. Jeff is the author of the popular Teaming series, Teaming with Microbes, Teaming with Nutrients, and Teaming with Fungi. We talk about a variety of topics, including his new book that's coming out in December.

Controlled Environment Agriculture is such a technical field that it can be confusing and a bit daunting for growers. I also think it's importance gets overlooked many times when discussing variables relating to plant growth and plant health. I'm honored to have Dr. Nadia Sabeh on to help explain some of the key principles to consider when growing indoors or greenhouse environments. Dr. Nadia Sabeh (A.K.A. “Dr. Greenhouse”) is President and Founder of Dr. Greenhouse, Inc., an agricultural and mechanical engineering firm that specializes in the design of HVAC systems for indoor plant environments. Dr. Sabeh has her PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) and is a licensed Mechanical Engineer in the State of California. For over 20 years, she has dedicated her education and career to helping farmers control their environments, allowing them to grow crops indoors, in greenhouses and in facilities that would otherwise be impossible or impractical to do so.  https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-49

Determining if LEDs are Right For You and Your Grow Part 1: what is an LED? Part 2: can LEDs provide the correct light that plants need? Part 3: what are some useful calculations? Rebecca Knight Ph.D., Sr. Application Engineer, BIOS Lighting Rebecca is an engineer and R&D scientist with experience in a broad range of fields: science, engineering, marketing, and business development. She holds a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of Texas, a M.S. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Purdue, and Chemical Engineering and Japanese undergraduate degrees.  She is passionate about vertical farming, horticultural LEDs, plant secondary metabolic pathway gene expression, and sustainable food production.  As the Sr. Application Engineer she works closely with the sales team using her photobiology research background, and love of analytics, to provide integration and cultivation expertise. https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-48

This is my follow up interview with Dr. Reggie Gaudino. Reggie is the chief science officer for Steep Hill Labs. Dr. Gaudino oversees all scientific research and development for Steep Hill and is the driving force for Steep Hill's genetic research program. Dr. Gaudino directed a team of researchers which led to the development of GenKit™, the first cannabis DNA-based sex test. The research from Dr. Gaudino has been peer-reviewed and published, leading to important new discoveries in the cannabis industry. https://www.kisorganics.com/pages/cannabis-cultivation-and-science-podcast-episode-47