Today’s episode continues our new special series “What Plants Crave from Technology.” In this new series, Dr. Sabeh will be interviewing equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers about the unique technological needs for growing crops indoors and greenhouses. This week’s guests are Jim Rearden and Thad Humphrey of Biotherm.

Jim Rearden has been helping greenhouse growers create optimum cultivation environments for over 40 years. As one of the founders of BioTherm, he has helped lead his company from the early days of providing innovative root zone heating systems to the expanded capabilities the company now offers, including heating, cooling, dehumidification, airflow systems, Co2 enrichment, and other key technologies for enhancing controlled environment agriculture and horticulture.  

Thad Humphrey is a licensed mechanical engineer and Engineering Manager at BioTherm. With over 29 years of mechanical systems design in agricultural, municipal and mining systems, he has spent the last 13 years providing optimized controlled environment systems to greenhouse growers.

Jim Rearden and Thad Humphrey of BioTherm discuss advancements in greenhouse climate control systems over the past 30 years. They cover topics such as root zone heating, dehumidification, airflow systems, and the impact of new energy codes on greenhouse operations.

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Today’s episode continues our new special series “What Plants Crave from Technology.” In this new series, Dr. Sabeh will be interviewing equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers about the unique technological needs for growing crops indoors and greenhouses. This week’s guest is Christine De Jesus, Director of Cultivation for Galenas.

Galenas is a tier-2 organic cultivation facility in Ohio. She nears twenty years of organic farming experience and directed cultivation for over a decade for Great Lakes Brewing Company's Pint Size Farm prior to transitioning to cannabis agriculture. DeJesus is a bi-monthly columnist for Cannabis Business Times magazine. She completed her undergraduate studies at Kent State University and completed a master's program at the University of Pittsburgh.  She has worked in multiple volunteer and professional capacities for organizations working toward the reform of drug policy. DeJesus wrote the current horticulture curriculum for the Cleveland School of Cannabis, with a strong focus on soil health. Her agricultural style focuses on sustainability, regenerative farming, and producing nutrient-dense crops with intense and nuanced flavor profiles.

Christine De Jesus shares her journey from organic farming to directing cultivation at Galenas, a tier-2 organic cannabis facility. She discusses sustainable practices, the challenges of scaling artisan cultivation, and the importance of soil health and environmental management in producing high-quality cannabis.

Timestamp Notes:

00:01:57 Tell us about your journey to Director of Cultivation for Galenas
00: 05:03 What drew you to work at a brewery?
00:08:03 is it possible to continue being a craft or artisan grower at large sale?
00:11:23 Who is driving the demand or what gets grown and sold in the cannabis industry?
00:13:51 Raspberries at pint size farm
00:18:06 Tell me about Galenas
00:21:07 Footprint loophole in state regulation for vertical farms
00:25:21 Was Galenas already set up as an operation before you came on?
00:28:42 Why Organic?
00:32:34 Neem Oil
00:35:31 Kelp and arsenic
00: 40: 13 certified KIND
00:48:58 Managing Your Environment
00:49:43 What are the biggest barriers to sustainable indoor production?
00:54:50 Postponing cannabis measures to a special ballot
01:01:48 How do you see the cannabis industry evolving in general?
01:08:23 What do plants crave?
01:17:35 Are plants introverts or extroverts?
01:17:42 Can cannabis create a more sustainable world?
01:17:50 What has the cannabis plant taught you?
01:17:58 If you could ask researchers to study one thing about cannabis cultivation, what would it be?
01:18:51 Have you ever brewed beer with cannabis?
01:19:24 If you had to pick a vegetable fruit or herb to make a flavored beer, what would you choose?
01:22:24 Thank you and closing out

Today’s episode continues our new special series “What Plants Crave from Technology.” In this new series, Dr. Sabeh will be interviewing equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers about the unique technological needs for growing crops indoors and greenhouses. We are continuing our conversation with last week’s guest Dan Dettmers, Application Engineer with Quest Climate.

Dan Dettmers joined Quest 4 years ago with a 20+ year background in food/pharma processing, industrial refrigeration and HVAC infrastructure design. For 15 of those years Dan moonlighted at his own hop farm, the other member of the cannabacea family. With his partners, they developed a business that covered every aspect from plant propagation to final pelletization of the hops for their brewery customers.  They even designed and built harvesting and drying equipment for others joining the industry.

Dan’s primary duty at Quest is to help the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry solve their climate control problems to increase the productivity of their farms and quality of their products. He also works in R&D developing new products for Quest, sits on several industry standard writing bodies, and provides technical training both in and outside of the company.  

Continuing the conversation, Dan Dettmers delves into the complexities of dehumidification in CEA settings. He addresses topics such as the efficiency of desiccant dehumidifiers, energy code requirements, and the dynamics of grow rooms. Dettmers also discusses the importance of equipment redundancy, the quality of reclaimed condensate, and offers advice for engineers and growers new to the industry.

Timestamp notes:

00:00:35          Why is desiccant not more prevalent?

00:03:18          What makes them [desiccant dehumidifiers] so inefficient?

00:06:20          How have you seen dehumidification technology change over the years?

00:15:27          Why is dehumidification so energy intensive?

00:20:20          Have you had to deal with supply chain issues?

00:21:39          Why does dehumidification require so much energy versus air conditioning?

00:22:18          Does it take more energy to also produce colder refrigerant temperatures?

00:23:15          What are some of the energy code requirements around dehumidification? 

00:28:04          Where does 80/60 come in?

00:33:09          What about moisture removal efficiency?

00:34:05          What do HVAC engineers not understand about CEA that you wish they did?

00:37:13          What about the dynamics of the grow room in general?

00:43:05          What is one advancement in HVAC technology that you’d like to see or that you think would have the biggest impact?

00:47:47          Can you speak to the quality of the reclaimed condensate and what it may contain?

00:51:02          What do plants crave from dehumidifiers?

00:53:45          Equipment redundancy and placement

00:56:49          Are plants high tech or low tech?

00:57:28          What has cannabis taught you?

00:58:30          What advice would you give to an engineer who is brand new in this industry?

00:58:53          What about a new grower?

01:00:38          What beer and cheese pairing would you want the most with cannabis?

Today’s episode continues our new special series “What Plants Crave from Technology.” In this new series, Dr. Sabeh will be interviewing equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers about the unique technological needs for growing crops indoors and greenhouses. This week’s guest is Dan Dettmers, Application Engineer with Quest Climate.

Dan Dettmers joined Quest 4 years ago with a 20+ year background in food/pharma processing, industrial refrigeration and HVAC infrastructure design. For 15 of those years Dan moonlighted at his own hop farm, the other member of the cannabacea family. With his partners, they developed a business that covered every aspect from plant propagation to final pelletization of the hops for their brewery customers.  They even designed and built harvesting and drying equipment for others joining the industry.

Dan’s primary duty at Quest is to help the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) industry solve their climate control problems to increase the productivity of their farms and quality of their products. He also works in R&D developing new products for Quest, sits on several industry standard writing bodies, and provides technical training both in and outside of the company.

Dan discusses the critical role of moisture management in Controlled Environment Agriculture. With a background in food/pharma processing and HVAC infrastructure design, Dettmers shares his experiences in helping the CEA industry solve climate control problems to enhance farm productivity and product quality. He also touches on his involvement in R&D and industry standard development.  

Today’s episode continues our new special series “What Plants Crave from Technology.” In this new series, Dr. Sabeh will be interviewing equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers about the unique technological needs for growing crops indoors and greenhouses. To help launch this new series, Dr. Sabeh invited friend and colleague Chris Higgins, President and co-founder of Hort Americas, to talk CEA tech, the needs, the challenges, and the evolution over the past 20 or so years.

Many in the industry know or have seen Chris at events and conferences, where he’s often moderating a panel, sometimes of misfits, navigating a wide range of topics around greenhouses and vertical farming, sustainability in CEA, market trends and business development, and the future of horticulture in the broader scope of agriculture and technology. As President and Co-Founder of Hort Americas, he distributes growing accessories and supplies to CEA growers. As Owner and Founder of UrbanAg News, he disseminates knowledge and know-how to the CEA community. And as an advisor to both academic and industry research pursuits, he often provides a much-needed gut check on what growers are challenged with and what they need to be successful and profitable.

Chris Higgins is President of HortAmericas, a wholesale supply company serving commercial greenhouse, nursery, and indoor farms across North America. He is also the Founder of Urban Ag News, a digital magazine designed to educate and inform the horticulture industry about new technologies, state-of-the-art research, and the current events affecting market supplies and demand.

The discussion with Chris Higgins continues, delving deeper into the technological needs of indoor and greenhouse crop production. They explore the role of equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers in addressing the unique challenges faced by growers. Higgins shares insights on sustainability in CEA, market trends, and the significance of collaboration between academia and industry to foster innovation.

Today’s podcast kicks off 2023 and introduces our new special series “What Plants Crave from Technology.” In this new series, Dr. Sabeh will be interviewing equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and developers about the unique technological needs for growing crops indoors and greenhouses. To help launch this new series, Dr. Sabeh invited friend and colleague Chris Higgins, President and co-founder of Hort Americas, to talk CEA tech, the needs, the challenges, and the evolution over the past 20 or so years.

Many in the industry know or have seen Chris at events and conferences, where he’s often moderating a panel, sometimes of misfits, navigating a wide range of topics around greenhouses and vertical farming, sustainability in CEA, market trends and business development, and the future of horticulture in the broader scope of agriculture and technology. As President and Co-Founder of Hort Americas, he distributes growing accessories and supplies to CEA growers. As Owner and Founder of UrbanAg News, he disseminates knowledge and know-how to the CEA community. And as an advisor to both academic and industry research pursuits, he often provides a much-needed gut check on what growers are challenged with and what they need to be successful and profitable.

Chris Higgins is President of HortAmericas, a wholesale supply company serving commercial greenhouse, nursery, and indoor farms across North America. He is also the Founder of Urban Ag News, a digital magazine designed to educate and inform the horticulture industry about new technologies, state-of-the-art research, and the current events affecting market supplies and demand.

In the inaugural episode of the "What Plants Crave from Technology" series, Dr. Nadia Sabeh converses with Chris Higgins, President and co-founder of Hort Americas. They discuss the evolution of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology over the past two decades, addressing challenges, sustainability, market trends, and the future of horticulture. Higgins emphasizes the importance of understanding growers' needs to drive technological advancements in the industry.

This episode is special! It’s the second part of our “What Plants Crave” series, where Dr. Sabeh speaks with growers, researchers, and other experts in other engineers, growers, and manufacturers who work in controlled environment agriculture, to get their insights about the direction of the industry, and of course, what exactly it is that plants crave. This week’s episode features Chris Chapdelaine and Andrew Alfred of Pharmacann. Chris is Director of Control Systems and Andrew is Director of Cultivation Research and Development. This interview is our 50th episode, and it was important to us to sit down with Chris and Andrew to round out a year full of incredible guests with valuable experiences to share with growers and the CEA industry.

Continuing their conversation, Chapdelaine and Alfred delve deeper into the integration of control systems with cultivation practices. They discuss the challenges and solutions in scaling operations, the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and future directions in controlled environment agriculture.

Thank you for growing with us.