Organization, Flexibility and Rapid Response – the Key Elements in a Medical Cannabis Growing Project

 

over the course of the last year, naandanjain established water, irrigation, drainage and climate control and automation systems in 14 different projects for growing medical cannabis in israel and worldwide.
in a previous article in this magazine, we wrote about the process for designing and planning such a project, which includes working with the authorities and regulatory bodies, technical design, and decision making based on the specific growing specifications of each farm. this article will focus on execution and installation, including preservation and operation of the system, technical support and auxiliary crop systems.
according to nimrod regev, medical cannabis projects manager at naandanjain: “in every project we meet different customers with different needs and different specifications. however, they all share strong motivation and an inspiring drive to succeed.”
“in the design phase, we use a 3d module that illustrates to our project partners a visual image of the various parts of the system; this enables them to ask question that can be managed already at this early stage.

our years of experience in many installations taught us that it’s important to maintain good collaboration between all partners in the installation – vendors, greenhouse builders, electrical contractors, etc., and that a common project-management effort can save both time and money. we have also learned along the years that in the establishment of a project we may be required to make changes due to professional considerations related to the crop, which changes throughout the project. since medical cannabis is a developing field, there are always new ideas that lead our customers to make changes that demand flexibility.

these may range from a request to replace the irrigation systems, through changes in the placement of the plants and the addition of taps, to changing the monitoring and control system. we understand the reality in which our customers and us work and therefore it’s important for us to provide the best possible answer to each customer. we work very transparently. the specifications i give to the customer include a detailed list of parts and prices, and at the end of the project the customer is billed only for what they used. rapid response time is the name of the game so that the installation goes smoothly.”
“during and after the installation, i tend to visit the site frequently, whether to supervise or to ensure that the project is running as expected. we believe this is extremely important. an integral part of the work with customers in medical cannabis projects is their feedback – either about the system during its implementation for example or about the new software “green-leaf” for managing the medical cannabis cultivation in green houses.

the green-leaf was specifically developed to ensure absolute and rapid climate control characteristics and automation conditions, which are critical components in the growth of medical cannabis. the feedback we receive from our customers is implemented and updated in the software with added features in order to create a convenient and simple interface for efficient and accurate farm management
nimrod also tells us about two additional systems used by cannabis growers, and we see how the demand from the market for them is increasing: the first is real-time management (rtm), which provides real-time data about the drain in the irrigation system. it samples the drain in different points and provides information about the amount and quality of the drain. this enables us to obtain data about the amount and composition of the water the plant receives. the system interfaces with our control system, allowing us to program the next irrigation automatically.
the second system is rootsense, an autonomous system of tensiometers that provides real-time data about the contents of the water in the roots system. rootsense provides impressive performance and accuracy in soilless bed crops, has multiple applications, is easy to install and requires minimum maintenance.

naandanjain continues to invest in r&d in many areas – water enrichment (with oxygen or additional components), plant protection (an automatic system for the automatic protection of plants from diseases), and treatment of drain water and its recycling into an irrigation system. they recently included the nuf system, which is showing excellent results, and are also investing in the development of aeroponic irrigation systems.
we ask nimrod what the future holds. he tells us that the company has recently hired two new employees with years of experience in the installation and operation of climate control and automation systems. at the same time, the company continues to design and install innovative systems, while it continues to monitor existing project. “service is our top priority. high service level is a requirement from the field, and this is the reason why our customers choose us and continue to work with us in their next projects.”
“it appears that this is the beginning of a new era. there’s no doubt that the requirement for high technological levels in the growth of cannabis and the accuracy this crop requires are challenging, and they are what enable us to continue developing innovative ideas. at the same time, our customers are daring and think out of the box, and we’re happy to join them in their journey.”
we invite you to learn more about our various systems.

 

this article was published in #2 edition cannabis 2020