Cannabis News

Plant sensors and dynamic lighting open new doors for growers

Published

2 months ago

December 23, 2025

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At the third meeting of the DigiKas (digital greenhouse) project at Agrotopia in Brussels, Belgium, the first results of how plant sensors and dynamic lighting can support data-driven crop management were recently shared.

Experts from Inagro, Ghent University, KU Leuven and Thomas More presented their findings to a group of garden and horticulture companies. The research clearly shows how plant sensors can help with irrigation management in tomato production, while highlighting the challenges of turning raw sensor data into practical decision-making information that growers can actually use in their day-to-day management.

Challenge sensors in practice
To verify the value of the sensors in actual growing conditions, climate and plant sensors were installed in several tomato compartments of Agrotopia. In these compartments, the growers deliberately worked with optimal and optimal settings. Inagro’s Bert Deruyck explained how stress responses in tomato plants were deliberately triggered by adjusting the timing and composition of irrigation. This hands-on approach produced valuable insights. When the concentration of nutrients in the irrigation water was too low, growth retardation and physiological disturbances such as blossom end rot appeared very quickly. The daily start time of irrigation also has a significant effect on productivity in summer crops. By deliberately pushing the crop out of its comfort zone, the project demonstrates how effectively sensors can detect problems in the crop and how clearly they respond to different stressors.

How sensitive are plant sensors?
Wolf De Smet from the University of Ghent looked at how sensitive different plant sensors are when it comes to detecting optimal growing conditions. His overview made it clear that not all sensors respond in the same way or on the same timescale, which is an important consideration for growers who want to use sensor data in day-to-day crop management.

Highly sensitive sensors that monitor plant electrophysiology, sap flow or stem diameter can provide highly detailed information on an hourly or daily level. These sensors are particularly useful for picking up short-term stress responses. Other sensors, such as those that measure slab weight, plant weight or substrate sheet moisture content, are better suited to show trends over several days. The study demonstrates that the response of a sensor is highly dependent on the type of stressor involved and the time period during which noticeable changes in the crop occur.

From data to decisions
Arne De Temmerman from KU Leuven explained the challenges and opportunities involved in turning collected crop data into truly useful information for growers. It presented a robust framework designed to ensure that data is collected in a consistent, high-quality manner and available for in-depth analysis.

He also explained the techniques used to identify overlapping or duplicated information within sensor signals, in order to more easily understand the relationships between different types of sensors. This approach paves the way for simpler and more practical sensor configurations in commercial greenhouses, focusing on measuring only what really adds value. Over the coming months, the project will link long-term production results with daily signals from sensors, helping growers better understand how short-term crop responses translate into overall performance.

Smart lighting = energy saving
Mario Frans from Thomas More presented research aimed at optimizing crop production under dynamic LED lighting. With major fluctuations in the energy market in recent years and the rapid adoption of all-LED greenhouse systems, growers now have more flexibility to respond to changing electricity prices by dimming and adjusting light levels throughout the day.

Climate chamber tests show that tomato plants can cope well with light fluctuations of 150 µmol per square meter per second for fifteen minutes. Tests also indicate that a realistic lower limit for additional illumination is around 75 µmol per square meter per second. These initial findings will soon be tested on a larger scale in the Agrotopia research greenhouses, where their impact on practical growing conditions can be assessed.

Future research
The DigiKas project, with the support of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Agency, aims to help farmers optimize their farming activities through data-based decisions. In the coming months, the results will be further refined and linked to production data, with the aim of practical and effective application in greenhouse horticulture.

Source: Inagro

Related Topics:doors dynamic growers lighting open Plant sensors

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New rules raise cannabis stock limits for Malta’s associations

Published

52 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

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Malta’s cannabis associations will be able to hold larger stocks of cannabis under new rules introduced last week. While associations were previously only allowed to keep 500g of cannabis, a new legal notice sets different limits depending on the number of members registered with each.

Malta’s largest cannabis associations, with over 350 members, will now be able to sell 3.5kg of cannabis. Between 250 and 350 members will be allowed to possess 2.45 kg of cannabis, and associations registering between 110 and 250 members will be allowed to possess up to 1.75 kg.

Smaller ones will have stricter limits. Associations with less than 100 members will only have 700 g, while those with less than 50 members will have 350 g. Meanwhile, associations are allowed to store the equivalent of an eight-month supply in their cultivation area, calculated at 50g per member.

The new rules do not change how much cannabis a person can carry or consume. Under Malta’s cannabis laws, first introduced at the end of 2021, people can carry up to 7g of cannabis without fear of prosecution. Anyone caught with between 7g and 28g of cannabis will appear in court rather than face charges in a criminal court.

Cannabis News

Trump Administration ‘Very Anxious’ To Allow Psychedelic Therapy ‘As Quickly As Possible,’ RFK Tells Joe Rogan

Published

57 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

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The Trump administration is “very eager” to create a pathway for access to psychedelic therapy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and senior officials of federal agencies want to “communicate to the public as soon as possible.”

In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast released Friday, Kennedy said he’s confident “we’re going to get it,” with plans to develop and finalize rules that would allow patients with conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression to access psychedelic substances like psilocybin and MDMA in a “very controlled environment.”

The secretary has been noted for his advocacy of psychedelic reform, an idea he floated as a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate before ultimately becoming the nation’s top health official under the Trump administration.

The president himself has been silent on the issue, but as Kennedy points out, support for expanding access to research and new therapeutics extends beyond HHS, with the heads of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also looking to take advantage of the potential benefits of psychedelic drugs.

“Everybody in my agency, and in (Secretary Doug Collins’) agency at the VA, is very eager to get a rule that will allow these types of studies and allow them to go into therapeutic settings, particularly for military personnel who have suffered these injuries to have access to these products,” Kennedy said. “We are working on that process now. We are all working and trying to make it happen.”

“I think we’ll make it.”

While some of the reform proposals being considered would be designed to “encourage more clinical trials” while having “very strong guidelines,” the health secretary said the agencies are interested in the full range of options that could include psychedelic therapies and other “rapid interventions.” One of Kennedy’s personal goals would be to validate the utility of substances like psilocybin over SSRIs for depression.

“We’re looking at that as a whole category of interventions that people should be able to look at and have appropriate access to, and we should roll it out as quickly as possible,” he said.

“This is what we’re anticipating, so I can’t tell you exactly what we’re going to do, but very, very strong therapeutic guidelines, so how they’re applied, what kind of follow-up. Because a lot of these things rewire the brain. If you don’t follow-up, it doesn’t work, or you have a failure rate. So we’re developing all of those things and I think we’re developing protocols. People in the administration are eager to do that as soon as possible. I know Doug Collins is doing 21 studies at the VA that they are doing, that they are very promising.

“You need those guidelines because you don’t want to do the Wild West. You can have horror stories overnight because some people can have very, very bad experiences,” Kennedy said. “We’re looking at ways to do it so it’s in a very controlled environment.”

Asked to expand on how Rogan sees the future of psychedelic therapies and whether it will include people in the military or other non-frontline roles, the secretary said he would “personally” like to see broad access, but “we have to take baby steps because you don’t want to create a situation where people want to get hurt.”

However, “you shouldn’t have a soldier who has given everything for the country, who has suffered terribly, who has come to Tijuana to receive these treatments, leave our country to receive treatments,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“I’ve seen so much overwhelming anecdotal evidence,” Kennedy said, emphasizing that one of his relatives has benefited from psychedelic therapy“but also clinical studies that verify the effect.” And officials at agencies like the NIH and FDA are “doing everything they can to make that happen.”

Rogan’s podcast interview comes a month after the release of a book by a reporter who allegedly had a romantic relationship with Kennedy, in which, as a presidential candidate, Kennedy still used psychedelics like DMT for “fun” and hid his drug use from his wife.

Meanwhile, in November, Kennedy, Vice President JD Vance, FDA Commissioner and other Trump administration officials attended the “Make America Healthy Again” summit. it was a session dedicated to studying psychedelic medicine.

In June, Kennedy said that his agency “Fully committed” to expanding research into the benefits of psychedelic therapy. and, along with the head of the FDA, aims to give military veterans legal access to these substances “within 12 months.”

The secretary also said that in April He had a “wonderful experience” with LSD at the age of 15He took it because he thought they would be able to see dinosaurs, as depicted in a comic he was a fan of.

Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized the FDA under the previous administration for the agency’s “eradication of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said was a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.

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Cannabis News

Data collection as an operational tool in commercial cannabis cultivation

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

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At the latest edition of Indoor Ag-Con, Jeremy Shechter focused his presentation on how data collection should work as an operational tool in commercial cannabis cultivation.

Jeremy, founder of Open Source Horticulture, opened by challenging a common assumption within the cultivation community. “We’re not as good as we think we are,” he said, pointing to the gap between perceived performance and what can actually be demonstrated. Without data, he argued, operators tend to rely on preconceptions rather than evidence.

Genetics, Jeremy explains, cannot be evaluated in isolation. “Genetics don’t just happen in a vacuum,” he said. In other words, data collection becomes the only reliable way to understand how genetics behaves in different rooms, facilities and operating conditions.

Profit figures alone, he adds, rarely tell the whole story. Teams may be able to articulate a number, but struggle to explain how that result was achieved. “Show me the dashboard,” Jeremy said, describing situations where performance claims fall apart because historical data is not available or cannot be accessed. In those cases, memory fills the void, even though, as he said, “our memory is very bad.”

The importance of setting goals
Jeremy envisioned data as a mechanism that allows teams to move toward defined goals. “One of the most important drivers for people is moving toward a goal,” he said, and progress is only seen when it’s measured consistently. Without solid data, goals remain abstract.

A recurring point in the presentation was the need for moderation. To illustrate this, he quoted Leonardo Da Vinci: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” Jeremy said, describing the tendency to overcomplicate data systems. He argued that not all data is worth collecting, and that excessive measurement often creates noise rather than insight.

Deciding what data matters, Jeremy insists, should not be left to chance. “Data is not created equal,” he said, “teams can easily spend time collecting information that doesn’t impact results. KPI selection should be driven by leadership and tied directly to business performance, then clearly communicated to crop managers.”

Entrepreneurship then becomes the key. “If a data point doesn’t inform a decision, it shouldn’t be treated with the same rigor.” Jeremy used room pressure as an example, explaining that while deviations from a set point can indicate a problem, they don’t necessarily correspond to long-term performance tracking. In other words, trends are more important than isolated readings.

Data collection systems
Jeremy also discussed the structure of effective data collection systems. “It has to be top to bottom,” he said, describing the need to follow every step of the process from cultivation to packaging. “Those systems have to be custom built for each facility.” He again emphasized the importance of keeping it simple and easy. “If you want to keep doing something, keep calm,” Jeremy said. Adding steps to any process increases friction and reduces compliance, whether in cultivation or data entry.

Paper-based workflows were highlighted as a persistent problem. Jeremy described the operations involved in entering data and then transferring it to a computer, a process he noted is inefficient and error-prone. Fully digitized systems, using tablets or mobile devices, were presented as a basic requirement for reliable data access.

Towards the end of the session, Jeremy touched on how data influences decisions beyond crop metrics. He noted that some cultivars can produce high yields but perform poorly after drying, becoming brittle or difficult to handle. Without tracking these results, operators run the risk of optimizing for numbers that don’t translate into finished product performance.

For more information:
Indoor Ag-Con
www.indoor.ag