Grant: Applied Research Tools and Instruments Grants

On October 17, 2018, Canada became the first developed (G7) country in the world to legalize recreational cannabis at a federal level. The planning and preparations to produce (grow) cannabis to be sold to medical patients before, and recreational consumers after this date created significant investment in the Canadian cannabis production industry. With full legalization, Canada has an opportunity to be the world leader in cannabis production and related innovations. Leading in cannabis production will include innovating and executing applied research in growing methods, production technologies, crop management, support products, crop inputs, pest and disease management, sensors, and a combination of those elements. Niagara College (NC) has a strategic position to support Canada's cannabis producers and supporting industries. The faculty expertise, high-quality students, geographic location, previous research, and current cannabis partnerships have developed NC's unique offering. This is all brought together with Niagara College's unique Commercial Cannabis Production (CCP) academic program, which began in September 2018.*Cannabis is a plant, and its production is an agricultural process. Cannabis quality (THC and CBD content) and yield can be affected by many factors during the growth process. The factors include environmental conditions, fertilization (nutrients), lighting, pests, crop management (trimming, topping, etc.), irrigation, fungus pressure, and more. Canadian Legal Producers (LPs) face all of these pressures in their facilities.*Niagara College is requesting equipment to support a cannabis production research unit. NC faculty and staff have commercial plant production and applied research expertise and experiences to fully utilize the requested equipment. The requested custom equipment will help to support the 2+ million square feet of cannabis growing space in Niagara - and 8.7 million across Canada - in an industry that is anticipated to be have legal recreational sales of as much as $4.34 billion in 2019, and medical cannabis that is expected to generate an additional $0.77 to $1.79 billion in sales in 2019.