Regulating the cannabis industry, and especially the medical part of it, has allowed many patients around the world to have easier access to the medicines they need. At the same time, there is another characteristic that is almost as important: cannabis has the power to advance horticulture as a whole. And one example is Stewart Farms. “We are one of the very few aquaponic cannabis growers in the world,” Tanner Stewart, founder of the company, remarks. “We are the only one moving towards an automated racking system within the grow. Our mandate is to advance indoor vertical farming and aquaponics as a whole, and have these as integrated organic cultivation systems on a commercial scale, and being able to replicate the same crop.”
Tanner Stewart, founder of Stewart Farms
“From a technology design perspective, we are developing a dual-purpose racking system which will be implemented to cost-effectively grow food; but we have chosen to grow the most valuable fruiting crop in the world: cannabis.”
And then there was leafy greens
Tanner recounts that everything started 6 years ago. “I was introduced to this small tech startup in Edmonton, Alberta. They developed this aquaponic system that convinced me about the goodness of aquaponics and I became a significant investor of that company,” Tanner says. “They were using tilapia fish and growing leafy greens. I ate that spinach, that lettuce, and it was nothing like I ever tasted before.”
Tanner and his son Clark at his first aquaponic leafy green farm
A double-sided business
Given the double nature of aquaponics, Tanner says that he has always seen it as two separate businesses. “You have to build your business model independently. The first question for a proper aquaponics business model is which fish I am going to grow for this market, but also, is there a market for it? And how large of a fish farm do I have to build to be profitable?”
Stewart Farms
Stewart Farms is soon expanding its tilapia farm to 200 metric tons. “There is not such a tilapia in the market,” Tanner explains. “We have a tilapia genetic that was collected by Gary Chapman which was taken directly from Egypt 25 years ago in Lake Nassar. Ours is the 8th generation for this tilapia genetic: the genetic lineage has been maintained, they remain disease free and yield better every generation. The breed is actually called Black Nile Tilapia: Stable Tilapia genetics are few and far between, there might be one other company that has as quality genetic as us, that I am aware of.”
Fish and cannabis
But not only the fish genetic is crucial for an aquaponic cannabis operation, also the cannabis itself, of course. “The beauty of an aquaponic system is that you are producing a diverse microbiome,” Tanner says. “Thanks to these microbials, secondary metabolites, flavonoids or terpenes have an opportunity to reach a much higher potential than in an hydroponic system with only synthetic input. Anecdotally, it is known that such systems make for higher quality products. But we are working on research papers on this to finally prove it.”
Shiv Bakhshi, director of cultivation
Focus on microbiome
Indeed, Tanner remarks that one of the things they are going to focus on is the microbiome. “There are some microbials cultures that influence the plant’s nutrient uptake, but that could also induce stress. Certain microbes would create good stress in cannabis – THC is indeed a product of the plant getting stressed. That is why we are doing a few flower runs in living soil only. I have run such a system for 5 years already, so this is not a first time for me. We are going to have 2 to 3 cold start-ups in our fish systems so this will enable us to measure the microbials as they build up in our system and transfer to the root zone of the plants. Ultimately, we're looking at affiliating the cannabinoid and terpene production of various strains to specific microbials.”
In this way, Stewart Farms can better understand which microbes are creating more expression of a specific terpene. “Thanks to our medical cultivation license, we were able to bring in a library of cannabis varieties that spans the globe: we have genetics from Australia, India, Afghanistan, California and so on.”
Shiv Bakhshi & Alexandra Snelling, Stewart Farms Plant Scientists making plans
Cannabis as main driver of innovation in horticulture
Considering all the innovative and cutting-edge activities that Stewart Farms and Tanner Stewart are carrying out, he believes the cannabis industry will remain at the forefront of agriculture advancement globally. “The cannabis industry is the tip of the spear for agricultural advancement globally,” he observes. “There is just no other crop like this. The reason is that you can make so many things with cannabis: in terms of sheer numbers, there are so many products that can be made out of cannabis compared to, say, potatoes. This is also the reason why it has more potential for innovation. It is really hard to innovate exponentially in potatoes as you get them for instance, as French fries or in a bag,” Tanner exaggerates to make a point. “Also, when it comes to the medical side, cannabis is the tip of the spear because there’s no other drug that can replace so many drugs.”
The end-game over the next few years
“Stewart Farms' primary mandate is to become one of the most sustainable producers of plants and fish in the world,” he says. “We are indeed also aiming at zero plastics. We are not going to use any recyclable packaging because a way not to waste plastic is simply not to produce it at all. Recycling works, but it is too late now for the environment: therefore, we are not going to use any plastics. But especially, we want this facility to be replicated globally and produce any kinds of crops.”
For more information:
Stewart Farms
B03 2207 90b Street SW
Edmonton, AB, Canada
T6X 1V8
stewartfarms.life