- How did you get involved in the Cannabis Industry?
In 2013, my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer & approximately 6 months to live. We looked at Cannabis Oil, specifically the Rick Simpson protocol, and she officially went into remission in March 2014. Everything we did was lab tested to ensure that nothing present within the product could exacerbate her condition. We designed a grow space with room for lab equipment and experimented with 23 strains to better understand Cannabinoid and Secondary Metabolite interactions. My oldest son, a bio major at the University of British Columbia received approval to complete his honors degree researching strain specific Cannabinoid maturity rates within Trichomes. The project received national coverage, drawing the attention of the Senior Management team at Future Harvest. While we had already completed the practical portion of the project, it was immediately evident that FHD had the same passion for research and commitment to developing healthy nutrient solutions specific to the consumable industry.
1 year after my son graduated from UBC, Future Harvest approached me about the CRO position. While the industry is quite different, it was the passion and ethical approach to business that we shared that made this a logical fit.
- What is FHD? (History and current business, niche's, etc.)
For over 20 years, Future Harvest has brought innovative products and solutions to the hydroponic and indoor growing industries. Future Harvest’s product lines are available through leading distributors and retailers across North America, the United Kingdom and Europe and include Nutradip, Plantlife Products and Future Harvest Plastics.
Plantlife Products was originally formed in 1996. Future Harvest acquired Little Shop of Horticulture in 2001 and incorporated the formulations, staff and IP into Plantlife products in 2001. The owners of Future Harvest at the time were on a mission to gather intel to add to their growing base of proprietary blends. They acquired recipes from many of the chemists of other industry competitors and with the ingenuity of our full time plant scientist and bio-chemist have tweaked and improved our products constantly over the last 15 years. Today we make over 60 proprietary blends for FHD and our Private Label Customers.
Future Harvest is currently in the finishing stages of upgrading its Kelowna production facility. With over 10,000 square feet of production and warehousing space it was a great opportunity to optimize and further automate our facility. Currently our commercial RO system is providing us with 12,000L/day of useable water for our liquid hydroponic fertilizer production. In addition we are able to produce an equivalent amount of quick dissolve dry granular fertilizer as well. Our new half a million dollar bottling line upgrade will allow us to take our production to the next level and take advantage of the industry and our partners growth. Loren our senior plant scientist/QAQC manager has an on site analytical laboratory to develop new formulations and check the quality of every product produced in our facility. Future Harvest has recently acquired an interest fully certified commercial laboratory down the street for any additional heavy metal, chemical composition and microbial tests down to parts per billion (ppb) accuracy level. With this rigorous quality control we are able to make a consistent product that is being embraced by more growers each and every day.
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