Connect with us

Cannabis News

Not an average greenhouse at NC State University

Published

2 months ago

on

It takes a minute to adjust your eyes to Joe Chierak and Mike Beddoe in hats through the greenhouse doors of NC State University’s Plant Sciences Building.

It’s so bright there’s a sunglasses case in the entryway.

“When the sun shines on the white floor, it’s like being blinded by snow,” says Beddoe.

The 24-foot-tall glass and steel behemoth that sits atop the Centennial Campus building might look like an ordinary greenhouse.

© NC State UniversityThe 10,000-square-foot Plant Sciences Building controlled-environment laboratory has 11 greenhouse bays (top left) that provide fully conditioned, glass-bottom growth environments for research.

But inside computer-controlled facilities, researchers work year-round to tackle the biggest challenges farmers face from disease, pests and extreme weather.

Plants for dozens of changing research projects are grown at any given time, all with different needs, requirements, growing seasons, and Chiera and Beddoe are tasked with overseeing them.

“We serve the entire campus,” says Chiera.

Increasing innovation
Researchers in one room have rows of blue-green plants. They are mostly eucalyptus© NC State University Widely planted hardwood trees throughout the world.

By editing specific genes in eucalyptus, NC State researchers like forestry professor Jack Wang and genome editing expert Rodolphe Barrangou are developing trees to make paper and other wood products, reducing emissions and promoting the sustainability of paper mills.

In another room, they set up chain-like runners of hanging strawberry plant racks, which can be used to root and grow more strawberries.

Associate Professor of Horticultural Sciences Mark Hoffmann is researching new ways to propagate strawberry plants to minimize the spread of pathogens before they are shipped from nurseries to growers.

Growing plants for this job requires precise control of light, humidity and other conditions.

Controlled environments for research accuracy
Shouting over the hum of fans, sprinklers and other equipment, Beddoe leads her down the hall to a back office.

© NC State UniversityEach greenhouse bay is individually monitored, helping to ensure that experiments meet the researchers’ exacting standards. Pictured: Mike Beddoe.

“This is the brains of the entire greenhouse,” Beddoe says, tapping into a control system that allows the researchers to adjust the environment in each room to their needs.

© NC State UniversityThe Plant Sciences building has 25 growing chambers of various sizes where plants are grown for food, fiber and even erosion control.

The facility includes 11 independently controlled greenhouse rooms spanning more than 10,000 square feet, as well as 25 plant growth chambers.

Sensors in each room continuously monitor temperature, soil moisture, CO2 concentration and more.

The data is then sent to a central computer, where it is analyzed and compared to optimal standards before issuing commands to the system, such as adjusting shade screens or turning on misters. Watering schedules are also programmed.

“We try to automate everything,” says Beddoe.

Safety first
Passing pots and earthenware, Chiera leads to one of the most unique rooms on the fifth floor.

The biocontainment greenhouse is one of the few facilities nationwide designed to safely screen for agricultural pests and pathogens.

Every year, farmers around the world lose up to 40% of their crops to pests and diseases.

As new threats continue to emerge that could threaten global food security, NC State is not taking any chances.

So they have converted one wing into a specialized high-capacity facility known as a biosafety level 3 laboratory.

Research here could be used to test treatments for crop diseases, for example, or to develop fruit and vegetables with greater resistance to insect pests.

The space itself is only accessible to credentialed staff, who work under the watchful eye of security cameras.

Chiera walks through the automatically closing doors and the researcher dons gowns, gloves, face shields and other protective gear before entering the lab.

What comes here, stays here
From air and water handling to waste disposal, it’s designed to ensure that what comes here stays here.

All water discharged from the BSL-3 greenhouse is run down pipes and boiled before leaving the facility.

Solid waste is treated in a special oven called an autoclave, which uses steam and pressure to ensure that any microbes are dead.

Air is also designed for safety.

A negative pressure ventilation system creates a flow of air in a direction to prevent anything in the air from escaping, and all the exhausted air is filtered out.

“So if we’re dealing with a pathogenic plant that produces spores, for example, it will trap them and not release them,” says Chiera.

Supporting diverse research in the face of tough challenges
Back in the main corridor, Chiera and Beddoe make their way through the hall to their next meeting, passing thousands of green plants along the way.

© NC State UniversityAlex Woodley (left) and Raine Lookabill study greenhouse gas emissions from greenhouse soils as part of efforts to find ways to reduce them and mitigate their effects.

Back in the main corridor, Chiera and Beddoe make their way through the hall to their next meeting, passing thousands of green plants along the way.

In one room, tests are being done on the sweet potato. Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Wenye Wang and his team are developing ways to help farmers monitor starchy and swollen roots as they grow underground, using low-cost Wi-Fi signals (PDF) instead of expensive buried sensors.

in another room, NC State Professor Dorith Rotenberg, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, is growing corn. Plants will eventually become dinner for insects, such as plant eaters and aphids, to better understand how these insects spread viruses that can stunt growth and reduce yield in one of the world’s largest crops.

A fan favorite
Beddoe stops in front of a room at the end of the corridor. “This is my favorite bay,” he says.

© NC State UniversityGrayson Cothran tends plants in a popular greenhouse bay where students have the opportunity to care for various plants and learn about greenhouse operations.

Inside, there are soybeans and banana plants basking in the sun, cotton plants with their hibiscus-like blooms, as well as a genetically engineered petunia that looks like an ordinary white flower during the day but glows at night using bioluminescent mushroom genes.

“These plants are mostly for our students,” explained Beddoe. “So they can learn different ways to water and breed and things like that.”

Always called
Beddoe will return here before heading home as part of his twice-daily inspections.

Because keeping the greenhouse running requires a lot of hands-on work.

“One of us is always on call,” says Beddoe, whose phone buzzes on evenings and weekends if something needs attention.

“Plants don’t take vacations,” he added.

Source: NC State University

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Cannabis News

Cannabis operators report mixed results as rescheduling reshapes the financial outlook

Published

7 hours ago

on

May 14, 2026

By

The rescheduling came mid-quarter and rewrote the tax math for each medical sales operator, but the underlying revenue picture remained uneven in early 2026, with acquisitions driven at one end of the scale and continued top-line compression at the other.

Vireo Growth: Back on $106 million deal
Vireo Growth Inc. reported Q1 GAAP revenue of $106.2 million, up 333.5% year-over-year, driven almost entirely by recent acquisitions rather than organic growth. The company completed the Schwazze acquisition in March, adding 45 dispensaries and two manufacturing facilities in Colorado and New Mexico. At the end of the quarter, it closed Eaze and Hawthorne Gardening, FLUENT Corp. announced an acquisition agreement and executed a California dispensary joint venture with Glass House Brands. Treating all acquisitions as closed on January 1, 2025 on a pro forma basis, revenue was $210.2 million and adjusted EBITDA was $42.2 million. The company ended the quarter with $137.8 million in cash.

John Mazarakis, CEO of Vireo, said: “Performance in the first quarter met our expectations and we are excited to welcome Schwazze, Eaze and Hawthorne to Vireo. We are focused on integration and optimization across the platform, while remaining opportunistic regarding growth opportunities associated with further acquisitions.”

Cresco Labs: $151 million, 280E relief and Texas license
Cresco Labs reported Q1 revenue of $151 million, down from $165.8 million in Q1 2025. Adjusted gross margin was 50.7% and adjusted EBITDA margin of $33 million was 21.7%. Cash at the end of the quarter was $67 million against a $310 million secured term loan. The company was conditionally granted a Texas Compassionate Use Program license after the quarter ended and opened two new dispensaries in Ohio.

Management said, “Moving the state’s legal medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III is the most impactful reform this industry has seen, and it validates the work we’ve been executing for years. We’ve built the operational foundation and balance sheet discipline to reap the immediate benefits of rescheduling, and position Cresco to take advantage of the broader path to normalization.”

Jushi Holdings: 4% growth, 460 basis point margin expansion
Jushi Holdings reported first-quarter revenue of $66.4 million, up 4% year-over-year, with gross profit margin up 460 basis points to 45%. Adjusted EBITDA was $11.4 million, up 17.2%. The margin improvement was driven by higher production volumes in Ohio, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and the performance of grower processors. Jushi brand products accounted for 58% of retail revenue in vertical markets. The company refinanced $132.3 million in debt during the quarter, providing $160 million in new debt through 2029.

Jim Cacioppo, president and CEO, said: “The recent scheduling of state-licensed medical marijuana for Schedule III is an important milestone for the industry, eliminating 280E tax limitations for medical operations and supporting a more favorable long-term operating environment.” Medical sales accounted for about 60% of Jushi’s 2025 revenue, making this material relief.

iAnthus Capital: Revenue falls to $33.5 million
iAnthus Capital reported first-quarter revenue of $33.5 million, down $4.6 million from 2025’s first quarter. Gross margin was 47.5%, up 477 basis points from the 2025 quarter. The company did not provide a management comment in the press release.

Country farms: international export record, fourth consecutive quarter of net income
Village Farms International reported first quarter consolidated net sales of $50.2 million, up 27% year-over-year, with net income of $2.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $9.9 million, up 118% year-over-year. International export sales increased 171% to a record $14.6 million, driven by demand for EU-GMP compliant products in Germany. Pure Sunfarms had the top Canadian market share in dried flowers for the 15th consecutive month. The company started planting the first half of its Delta 2 greenhouse expansion and expects its Phase II facility in the Netherlands to reach full capacity by the end of 2026, which would quadruple Dutch production.

Michael DeGiglio, President and CEO, said: “Our first quarter results reflect a strong start to the year and continued momentum in our largest markets, with adjusted EBITDA growth of 118% year-over-year, significantly outpacing revenue growth of 27%, driven by our international business and continued leadership in Canada.

Cronos Group: Record revenue, $822 million in cash
Cronos Group reported Q1 net income of $45.2 million, up 40% year-over-year and a record quarter, with net income of $15.7 million and adjusted EBITDA of $5.1 million. Israel led growth PEACE NATURALS grew 53% for ninth consecutive record quarter. In Canada, the Spinach brand took first place in vapes with a 9.8% share of the national market, and maintained its top spot in edibles at 20.8%. The company ended the quarter with $821.9 million in cash and authorized a new $50 million stock repurchase program. The deadline to close the acquisition of CanAdelaar, one of the ten licensed growers in the Dutch Controlled Cannabis Supply Chain Experiment, has been extended to September 9, 2026 to allow time for regulatory approvals.

Mike Gorenstein, chairman, president and CEO, said, “Cronos achieved net earnings and gross profit in the first quarter as we continue to execute against our unlimited product strategy and the additional supply from Cronos GrowCo’s expansion fuels the next phase of our growth.”

Org chart: Revenue down 9%, Sanity Group acquisition closes after quarter
Organigram Global reported fiscal second quarter net income of $59.8 million, down 9% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA of $0.9 million, down 82%. Lower vape and pre-infusion sales drove the decline, along with a $5.8 billion dent in the U.S. hemp business. The company achieved a record quarterly harvest of over 32,000kg at its Moncton facility, up 56% year-on-year, and launched 10 SKUs in Australia targeting over 4,000 pharmacies. At the end of the quarter, Organigram acquired Sanity Group, one of Germany’s leading cannabis companies, and updated its 2026 guidance to net revenue of more than $350 million.

James Yamanaka, CEO, said: “Q2 reflected our poor performance in vaporizers and temporary challenges in pre-infusion production, compounded by slower industry growth. We have acted quickly to address these issues, and the operational changes and product improvements we have implemented are already beginning to stabilize performance.”

Greg Guyatt, Chief Financial Officer, said: “The financial impact of the competitive and operational challenges encountered earlier in fiscal 2026 is believed to have materialized in the first half of the year, and we are now beginning to stabilize performance. We expect to resume a trajectory of margin expansion and improved profitability during the second half of the year, supported by positive revenue and international sales growth. The Sanity Group.”

Continue Reading

Cannabis News

Medical Marijuana Helps Pain Patients Reduce Use Of Opioids, New Study Shows

Published

7 hours ago

on

May 14, 2026

By

As opioids continue to cause overdose deaths, a new study suggests that making medical cannabis available and affordable could help patients reduce their use of prescription painkillers.

“Although cannabis has historically been characterized as a potential ‘gateway drug,’ it may also serve as a harm reduction tool for some patients seeking to reduce their reliance on higher-risk opioid medications,” researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine found.

The study, a prospective observational trial at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed 29 adults over five months. All had been living with chronic pain for years—an average of 11 years—and were already taking opioid medications, but struggled to taper off of them despite other treatments.

The study is unique in its focus on cost as a factor in access to medical marijuana, with the researchers describing their work as “the first prospective observational study evaluating medical cannabis as an alternative to opioids in a setting where cost was removed as a major barrier.”

Participants were recruited from a university outpatient chronic pain clinic and then completed monthly pain assessments using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NRS). The researchers measured daily opioid use, measured in milligrams of morphine equivalents (MME).

“Seven patients (24%) were able to completely discontinue opioid therapy at the end of the study, five of whom did so by the second month. Pain levels also decreased over time,” the authors wrote.

Notably, “there was a statistically significant reduction in mean pain scores experienced over the five-month study period,” says the paper published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science.

“There was also a reduction in average opioid consumption of about 32 MME per day, which remained the same throughout the follow-up. In addition, seven patients were able to completely discontinue opioid therapy during the study.”

“Mean daily opioid consumption decreased from 46.8 MME/day at baseline to 16.2 MME/day at one month and remained low during the five-month follow-up period,” the researchers found.

What set the new study apart was not just the inclusion of medical cannabis, but the deliberate removal of cost as a barrier. Participants “consistently identified cost as a major barrier to initiating medical cannabis” before enrolling in the study, the document says.

Noting the novelty of the study, they added their hypothesis: “Improving access to medical cannabis will allow a subset of patients, especially those with a high cost barrier, to reduce or discontinue opioid use while maintaining adequate pain control.”

“These results suggest that medical cannabis may be a useful adjunctive therapy to reduce opioid use, relieve chronic pain, and improve health-related quality of life,” they concluded.

“The findings of this study add to the body of literature supporting the safety profile and potential therapeutic role of cannabis.”

The studies the authors are cautious in their conclusions, warning of limitations and the need for further research. “The sample size was small and derived from a single clinical site, and there was no control group.” And because “patients self-titrate cannabis products, leading to variability in dosage and frequency of use,” the findings are not standardized.

But the authors concluded that “when used under appropriate medical supervision, medical cannabis may be an effective adjunctive strategy to reduce opioid use among patients receiving long-term opioid therapy.”

This study follows a Recent research shows that using medical marijuana helps people reduce their use of other drugs, including opioids.sleep aids and antidepressants. They also experience fewer negative side effects after switching from prescription drugs to cannabis, according to a study involving more than 3,500 patients.

It also comes from behind President Donald Trump says marijuana ‘can make people feel a lot better’ and serves as a “substitute for addictive and potentially lethal opioids.”

Last month, the Trump administration announced it moving forward with federal reclassification of marijuana medicinal cannabis is classified under Schedule I to III of the Controlled Substances Act.

Marijuana Moment is made possible with the help of readers. If you rely on our pro-cannabis journalism to stay informed, consider a monthly Patreon pledge.

Continue Reading

Cannabis News

Livermore Falls debates cannabis licensing fees

Published

1 day ago

on

May 13, 2026

By











Existing medical cannabis licensing fees will be temporarily applied to recreational marijuana businesses, the Select Committee decided on May 5. Board members agreed 4-1 to the temporary change, as long as officials say the fees are higher than necessary and accurately reflect the town’s oversight costs.

Bryce Cobb, Livermore Falls’ code enforcement officer, plumbing inspector, health officer and E-911 dispatcher, said voters approved the amended cannabis ordinance on April 28. Cobb said the amended ordinance allows recreational marijuana businesses and the next step was to establish a fee schedule. Recreational cannabis businesses operating in town would require local licensing approval under the ordinance.

Asked if he had fee schedules from other towns to compare, Cobb said he did not. Additionally, the town’s fee schedule specifically mentions medicinal cannabis.

“So it could be medical and adult use,” Cobb said when discussing whether the existing fee structure could apply to recreational businesses.

Read more at Sun Magazine










Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2021 The Art of MaryJane Media