Cannabis News

How cannabis became a science-backed crop

Published

5 months ago

January 21, 2026

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Recognition of one’s work can take many forms, from peer recognition to institutional awards, and in some cases comes repeatedly throughout a career. This is the course of the cannabis research work of Prof. Nirit Bernstein of the Volcani Institute, which recently ended with the “Cannabis and Hemp Distinguished Achievement Award” given to the Israeli researcher by the American Society of Horticultural Science.

The beginning of the modern science of cannabis
Nirit started working with cannabis about 14 years ago, long before the crop gained its current institutional legitimacy. At that time, he approached the Israeli Ministry of Health, through its Medical Cannabis Unit, with a formidable request: to help define cultivation protocols for a crop that is poorly understood from a plant science perspective, to ensure that the plant product is safe for consumers, and to provide growers with the necessary agronomic support. “Back then there was almost no information about the plant science and agronomy of cannabis,” he says. “It was very difficult to establish a cannabis research program at the time because there was no funding, but I felt a great responsibility to do it.”

He did what any academic would do, turned to the scientific literature. For any other well-studied crop, the answers would have been numerous. For cannabis, there was basically nothing. “Cannabis is not a new crop, people have been using it basically forever, so I was hoping to find some useful information,” recalls Nirit. “But when I looked at it, there was basically zero. At that point I understood that if we wanted answers, I would have to start from the very beginning.”

This absence prompted him to redirect his research activity almost entirely to cannabis. Early work focused on the basics, not reinventing the wheel to get into the cannabis side of things, but because every discipline needs a framework to build upon if complex issues are to be addressed. “How the plant responds to mineral nutrition throughout its life cycle. How the vegetative and reproductive stages change in their requirements. What happens when inputs are boosted, limited or misaligned. All of this is decades of knowledge in all crops, but for cannabis it was all new territory.” Nitrogen became one of the first focuses, followed by potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, each of which was systematically analyzed. “Each time we found the optimal level, it became the basis for the next analysis,” he explained. “It was a very cumulative process.”

Academy for cannabis growers© Nirit Bernstein
As soon as Nirit started presenting the first data at conferences, it became clear how hungry the industry was for validated information. Growers, consultants and companies began arriving in volume with very specific questions about nutrient ratios and cropping decisions, often driven by hereditary practices. “For years, I received hundreds of emails and requests every week,” he says. “People would ask about nitrogen, potassium, light, irrigation, crop management and what not…very practical things. You really feel the responsibility, you know the industry is listening.”

The science of cannabis plants is advancing
This sense of responsibility dictated the direction of his laboratory. His research expanded into environmental drivers, light spectra, HPS versus LED, pruning strategies, plant density, and plant architecture, including some early peer-reviewed work on hood uniformity in cannabis chemistry. “We had very little information about the plant, but at the end of the day cannabis is just a plant,” said Nirit. “Interesting, yes, but it still follows physiological rules that need to be understood.”

As the field arrived, so did the questions. Attention was focused on inflorescence development, trichome ripening and harvest time, with industry conventions still struggling to fully distance themselves from heritage practices. “There’s been a lot of change in the last 9 years,” he says. “In the past, people harvested trichomes when they were about 50% amber. Today, many harvest them as soon as they start to turn amber, but we don’t have enough information about how growing conditions affect that process.”

This gap is now central to his research. With international collaborators, including projects funded by the Cannabis Research Institute in Colorado, Nirit is studying not only pesticide residues, but also how pest management strategies affect secondary metabolism. “It’s not just about waste anymore,” he explained. “If you spray the plant, even with terpene-containing botanicals, that can have a dramatic effect on the production of secondary metabolites.”

The physiology of stress has become another key focus. Time and time again, his work has shown that peak concentrations of cannabinoids and terpenes often coincide with how the plant reacts to stressors, an observation long known to growers. “Stress often affects secondary metabolism,” he says. “What we’re trying to do now is to develop extraction methods that trick the plant into thinking it’s under stress while it’s growing under optimal conditions.”

This willingness to investigate grounded practices has continually encouraged her to question her research heritage methods. Physical injury, long dismissed as superstition, was shown to have some stimulatory effects on secondary metabolites. “They told us it worked, and they were right,” he says. Flushing, another divisive subject, showed no consistent increase in cannabinoid levels, but no harm either. “My recommendation is to clean it,” he added. “It helps to save money, it does not damage the plant and it improves the conditions of the soil, especially when growers have used too much fertilizer.”

Further experimental work continues in parallel, including carefully measured salinity stress in the last days before harvest, prolonged preharvest light or darkness, and studies on heavy metal uptake. “Hemp is a hyper accumulator, and ‘drug-type’ cannabis was never really tested for that in a medical context,” he explains. “Some of the nutrients we give to plants, such as iron, zinc, manganese, copper, are heavy metals. The question is how much we can give in the inflorescences and in the extracts produced without reaching critical thresholds.”

In all these lines of research, the methodology remains consistent. “We’ve put a lot of effort into understanding the physiology and biology of the plant,” says Nirite. “Not only agronomy, but also chemistry and the physiological function of plants. Then we translate this knowledge into practical applications. This is how we work in my laboratory.”

Thanks to this approach, Nirite has achieved a series of international recognitions in recent years, from the ‘American Chemical Society’, the ‘American Society of Agronomy’, the ‘American Society of Horticultural Sciences’, to agronomic and horticultural organizations throughout Europe and Israel. The “Cannabis and Hemp Distinguished Achievement Award” now joins that list to confirm that cannabis plant science has reached a level of maturity where fundamental work can finally be recognized as such.

“Cannabis is a fascinating plant,” reflects Nirite. “Not just because of the chemistry, but because the physiology can be so different between cultivars. The more we learn, the clearer it becomes how much we don’t know.”

For more information:
Institute Volcanoes
+9723-968-3226
(email protected)
agri.gov.il

Related Topics:Cannabis crop sciencebacked

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Cannabis News

No need to remove fully compostable sachets during crop rotation

Published

14 hours ago

July 5, 2026

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Biobest has developed a new home grow bag for predatory mites designed to reduce greenhouse labor requirements while addressing the growing challenge of single-use plastic waste in crop protection systems.

According to Ines De Craecker, Director of Product Management at Biobest, the project arose out of discussions with growers, rather than regulatory pressure.

“People might think it started from a regulatory perspective, but we started from a conversation,” he shares. “The growers were really conflicted. The labor is expensive, and they had to choose between removing the bags from the harvest or leaving behind non-recyclable waste.”

Mite predator bags are widely used in IPM programs and have become a standard biological control tool in greenhouse production. Most bags on the market today are made of single-use plastic.

“At the end of the season, growers have to decide whether to remove all the growth bags from the crop by hand, which is labor-intensive, or leave them in place. It becomes a choice between yield and sustainability.”

Maintaining performance while improving sustainability
Biobest estimates that more than 350 million grow bags are used each year, generating more than 1,400 tons of non-recyclable waste. In addition, more than 20 hours of skilled labor per hectare may be required to remove the sachets.

“For large growers working several hectares, this can mean extra work at the end of the week to remove the bags at the end of the season,” says Ines.

Developing a sustainable alternative presented significant technical challenges. The company aimed to create a fully compostable portfolio without compromising biological performance.

“It sounds simple, but it’s really complicated to develop a grow bag in sustainable materials without compromising the product’s performance. You still want to deliver the quality and performance that customers expect.”

The development process involved collaboration between Biobest’s R&D, packaging and production teams, as well as external material suppliers and commercial teams. Field validation was also essential to confirm that mite performance and pest control effectiveness remained unchanged.

“If you compare it to a regular single-use grow bag, it looks exactly the same. The mite performance and the actual control in the crop is unchanged.”

Home compostability at room temperature
A key feature of the new bag is its ability to biodegrade under home composting conditions. Ines says that in order to obtain a certificate of home compostability, the materials must fully biodegrade within 180 days, at an ambient temperature of 20°C to 30°C, under specified humidity conditions.

“Our bag has been designed with the minimum amount of polymer that can be composted at home, and it is mainly made of paper-based fibers. These fibers not only support biodegradation, but also improve the quality of the compost, helping to regulate the moisture level, making the bag well suited for both home composting and local composting.”

This is a significant advantage over industrial compostable materials, which require specialized composting facilities operating at temperatures between 70°C and 80°C.

“One of the challenges with industrially compostable solutions is that many growers do not have access to industrial composting facilities. This means that waste cannot be composted as intended or must be transported off-site for processing,” he added.

In practice, many industrial compostable materials are not even accepted by commercial composters. They are usually screened early in the process because they break down more slowly than the composting cycle, are too coarse or stiff to be shredded effectively, or are considered a visual pollutant in the final compost.

According to Ines, they have designed their bag to overcome these challenges. Its paper fiber construction makes it easy to shred, helping to reduce moisture levels during composting. The ultra-thin layer of home compostable polymer breaks down even faster under industrial composting conditions, eliminating concerns about inconsistent composting deadlines.

“We wanted to develop a bag that doesn’t put any restrictions on a grower’s waste stream. It can stay with the crop waste and follow its existing end-of-life path, whether it’s a backyard compost pile, a farm composting system, or industrial composting.”

At the end of the crop cycle, the bags can be removed along with the plant material and composted, eliminating the need for separate collection, sorting and disposal.

A gradual rollout is planned
The compostable home portfolio is now a concept and was nominated for the GreenTech Concept Award. According to Ines, the technology is suitable for all predatory mites that are currently supplied in grow bags.

“In the future it is our intention to change all our products to a home compostable format.” Biobest plans to initially introduce the pouches to select European markets, before gradually expanding production and availability globally.

For more information:

Biobest Group NV

Telephone: +32 14 25 79 80

Cannabis News

North Carolina Senate Passes Bill To Restrict Hemp THC And Kratom Products

Published

14 hours ago

July 5, 2026

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“If there are people who want to legalize marijuana, they can introduce that bill, we’ll talk about it.”

By Brandon Kingdollar, NC Newsline

On the last day before going home for nearly a month, North Carolina senators voted to ban most cannabis products sold in the state.

The version of House Bill 328 that passed the Senate would have banned all intoxicating hemp products in North Carolina. Intoxicating hemp products are defined as any with a total THC content of more than 0.4 milligrams. THC is the compound responsible for the psychoactive effects of cannabis. Hemp business owners say the ban will ban almost all products from the market.

The bill would also ban the sale of hemp consumables to anyone under the age of 21, and ban xylazine and synthetic kratom, two other substances that have raised health concerns. Sales of natural kratom would also be restricted to people over the age of 21.

It’s the latest in a back-and-forth between the state House and Senate over what regulatory framework should be put in place for substances that have been widely used in recent years. Kratom and potent hemp derivatives can be found on the shelves of almost any gas station in the state.

The Chamber was already in session when the senators voted to approve the bill. But Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said the crisis caused by these substances was too serious to wait until lawmakers return at the end of July.

“The personal loss that has occurred in the state of North Carolina as a result of these products cannot and must not be delayed any longer,” Berger told members of the media after Thursday’s session. “We have reached a point where doing nothing was not an option.”

The lack of regulation surrounding hemp derivatives, which hit the market en masse after federal regulations allowed them to be sold in 2018, has sparked bipartisan concern, reflected in the Senate’s 43-6 vote to pass the bill.

Sen. Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth) said he supports the bill because of the dire need for regulation of the hemp industry.

“Some of these products sold in these stores, which come from other countries, cannot even be sold in the country they come from,” Lowe said. “I have absolutely no problem voting for this bill because I don’t think this thing is safe.”

The state’s child mortality task force reported in 2025 that since 2019, emergency room visits have increased 600% for cannabis-related minors. Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R-Duplin) cited the case of a 14-year-old hospitalized after purchasing an intoxicating hemp product. The House debated its own version of the bill last month.

Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch (D-Wake) said she supported the bill primarily because of restrictions on “gas station drugs that really hurt our constituents,” such as kratom, which has led to an increase in health emergencies. He was more skeptical about his approach to hemp, raising concerns that non-intoxicating products with legitimate medical uses would be hijacked.

“What I’m hoping we can do, as far as the next month we’re not here, is sit down, give our ideas, see if they can put it into a conference call that goes to the many farmers in North Carolina who are growing hemp, so they don’t go bankrupt,” Batch said.

The invoice It follows a federal ban on intoxicating hemp products that was enacted last year as part of the Farm Bill, but has yet to take effect. Hemp industry lobbyists have rallied to overturn the ban before it takes effect in November.

Those efforts appear to be paying off, according to a letter to Congress last month The Trump administration asked Congress to reverse itself and keep these hemp products legal.

Berger said passing the ban at the state level ensures North Carolinians will be protected regardless of what the federal government does.

“What we’ve put in place, or what we’re trying to put in place, hopefully the House will pass the conference report, is a ban on intoxicating hemp products,” he said. “And if the feds decide they don’t want to do that as we go forward, North Carolina would still ban intoxicants.”

It left the door open to relaxing some restrictions in the future.

“If there are people who want to legalize marijuana, they can introduce that bill, we’ll talk about it,” Berger said. “If there are people who want a specific regulatory scheme on some of these things that would allow people over the age of 21 to buy, let’s introduce a bill and let’s see.”

The Senate version of the bill goes further than the House version, which would have imposed a 21-year age limit on hemp-derived consumables but would have otherwise left the market undisturbed, banning a wide range of hemp-derived products currently being sold. The Senate also requires consumers to be 21 for products that remain legal.

Advocates for loosening marijuana restrictions also supported the bill. Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick), the architect of the bill that almost succeeded in legalizing medical marijuana in North Carolina, issued a fiery rebuke Friday to hemp products being sold across the state.

“The big players and the people who want to make money can’t make the money they want to make, they can’t catch the people they want to catch, in a regulated product,” Rabon said. “So if that’s the case, we have to get rid of everything. There’s no other option.”

The House will have a chance to take up the Senate’s version of the bill when they return to session on July 27. It is not clear whether they will agree to this or not.

This story was first published by NC Newsline.

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