(This story is part of the cover package in the May-June issue of MJBizMagazine.)

Machine learning is becoming increasingly common in indoor cannabis grows, as cultivators use sophisticated sensors and cameras to maintain optimal growing conditions, sound the alarm about threats such as pests or disease and reduce labor costs associated with both menial and high-level cultivation tasks.

“Cannabis has always been the enabler of some of these bleeding-edge technologies,” Nick Genty, CEO of North Carolina-based AgEye Technologies, said in an interview with MJBizMagazine.

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“They’ve had the margins, and they’ve had the budgets to support investing in new technology versus some of the vegetable guys who don’t.”

There are two main reasons why cannabis and other indoor agriculture companies are implementing artificial intelligence or machine-learning

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The exit of Chris Alexander, the top state official overseeing New York’s rollout of adult-use marijuana sales, is seen by many as assigning blame for what has been decried as the country’s worst cannabis market launch to date.

More than three years after New York legalized adult use, only 122 stores were open for business statewide, and the market’s $123 million in 2023 sales was only about one-quarter of projections.

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But whether Alexander’s departure as executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will mean a turnaround – or whether his replacement, to be assigned by Gov. Kathy Hochul upon completion of Alexander’s term in September, will be any better – is far from clear, industry observers told MJBizDaily on Monday.

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Pennsylvania’s Standard Farms, a subsidiary of Arizona-based cannabis multistate operator Tilt Holdings, secured a $10.5 million loan.

The loan will fund Standard Farms’ plans to build and run medical marijuana dispensaries in Pennsylvania, according to a news release.

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An unidentified “experienced retailer and operator” issued the secured promissory note, the release noted.

Standard Farms can borrow up to $10.5 million to build and operate up to three medical marijuana dispensaries.

The promissory note matures on Dec. 31, 2027, and the loan carries a 20% interest rate.

The interest increases to:

30% once Standard has opened its first dispensary and completed a sale. 40% six months after the first location opens.

No payments will be due before the maturity date, but

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