Kelowna gets research and development facility dedicated to advancing cannabis cultivation
Kelowna is now home to North America’s first research and development facility dedicated to advancing cannabis cultivation techniques and systems.
The Flowr Corporation and Hawthorne Canada Limited announced the R&D centre’s opening on Flowr’s cultivation campus in Kelowna today, Jan. 5.
The facility will include state-of-the-art laboratories, indoor grow suites, and training areas in a single building.
Flowr will test cultivation systems and techniques using Hawthorne’s advanced lighting, fertilization and irrigation systems, growing mediums, and research protocols. In addition, Flowr intends to focus its own research on cannabis genetics and integrated growing systems.
“We built Hawthorne to help cultivators of all sizes grow quality plants with high levels of efficiency and consistency. Completing the industry’s only dedicated R&D facility gives us a distinct advantage,” said Chris Hagedorn, SVP & General Manager of Hawthorne Gardening in a press release.
“We will leverage Flowr’s cultivation expertise and our technical capabilities into real-world testing and results that will make a difference to growers.”
Flowr, a leading international cannabis company, with extensive growing experience indoors, in greenhouses and at-scale outdoors is one of a few companies that have had experience growing diverse genetics in different countries and Hagedorn said that will be benefit to both companies.
Lance Emanuel, President and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Flowr, also said it's going to offer a competitive advantage.
“Operationalizing the R&D Center is a major accomplishment for our organization and strengthens our competitive advantage in cultivation,” Emanuel said.
“We believe the long-term success of Flowr will be rooted in our ability to maximize the cannabinoid and terpene expression of genetics without sacrificing yield.
The work we will do at the R&D Center will help us build upon the success we’ve had producing high quality, premium cannabis like our award-winning, flagship-strain BC Pink Kush beloved by budtenders and consumers throughout Canada. Leveraging our work at the R&D Center will be imperative to our eventual entry into the United States once federally permissible by law.”
The R&D Center is the centrepiece of a strategic R&D partnership formed by Flowr and Hawthorne in March 2018.
The operations will be led by Dr. Deron Caplan, the first person in North America to earn a PhD focused on cannabis cultivation and production. Dr. Caplan was awarded his doctorate by the University of Guelph in August 2018 and is Flowr’s Director of Research and Development.
The R&D Center will be staffed by Flowr’s scientists, five of whom have PhDs in various plant biology, plant genetics and plant biochemistry disciplines.
Hawthorne R&D will lead the research design and methodology.
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