This post will be the first in a new monthly series on The Weed Blog, our Flower Friday Farm Features. This series will feature cannabis farms and the faces behind them. Each farm will be featured in a series of 3 posts: 1) the background and mission of the company, 2) a profile on the farmers/gardeners, and 3) a strain review and what the future plans of the farm are. The Flower Friday Farm Feature series of posts will happen on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Fridays of each month.
Master Gardens , located in Oregon, was co-founded by partners Josh Munk and Jake Davis. Munk primarily manages the Portland area work while Davis primarily manages the Southern Oregon work for the company, although both partners wear all hats, so to speak. The indoor facility, where they began work in 2012 in Portland, has come to host most of the company’s brand.
Munk said, “We were trying to create a modular solution for urban cannabis agricultural cultivation that was different than what had been worked on before. We wanted to set a standard for the best management and efficiency practices, and work towards better sustainability.”
Prior to beginning work on this large-scale warehouse facility, they were always doing outdoor or a retro fit of a house or garage. Once up and running, Master Gardens (MG) was founded in early 2013 under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP). Their intent was to use their previous experience to create a sustainably run urban garden that produced high quality cannabis flower.
Munk’s first commercial experience came from growing off the grid in Northern California, where he had to create all processes for the grow from water to energy to nutrients. After this, he moved up to Southern Oregon, where he used this experience of putting crews together and managing a team to begin work with Davis on the beginning plans for MG. Munk’s experience with a large scale of commercial agriculture carried across as well.
In terms of sustainability, MG does not use High Intensity Discharge (HID) ballists, in an effort to use dramatically less energy. In addition, they use more efficient and sustainable light sources that use much less energy as well, such as LEDs, induction, and plasma. MG also uses closed loop water recapture systems and intelligent growing apps, and they are currently working with an IT professional to create a software that will to monitor all aspects of the grow facility for research purposes so they can become even more efficient and sustainable over time.
Cannley Cannabis Company is another project associated with MG, and offers enterprise business management and supply chain solutions for cannabis professionals, businesses and entrepreneurs. Their engagement model is a turnkey platform and strives to help their partners to realize their highest potential.
Master Gardens is the first Cannley certified facility in Oregon.
More to come on all of this and more next week on our Flower Friday Farm Feature on The Weed Blog!
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