Israeli grower to conduct commercial feasibility of CO2 foliar spray

Toronto-based CO2 GRO is carrying out a commercial feasibility to assess CO2 Delivery Solutions technology with Israel-based Cannabis producer Pharmocann Global. This commercial feasibility was sourced by CO2 Gro's Israel marketing partner Greenmist.

The commercial feasibility will be conducted in a portion of Pharmocann's greenhouse for a period of at least six months. Pharmocann has eight acres of greenhouses (348,000 sq. ft.) for growing and flowering Cannabis plants as well as a research and development greenhouse for Cannabis strains. Since the greenhouses require continual venting, CO2 gassing is not feasible. CO2 Delivery Solutions' saturated CO2 misting enables open venting greenhouses to provide more carbon to their plants for enhancing growth.

The commercial feasibility's goals are to demonstrate faster growth for more harvest turns, increased bud yield for more product to sell, powdery mildew suppression to reduce crop losses, low CO2 and energy use for a lower carbon footprint and lower overall production costs per gram.

Israel's Expanding Cannabis Market
There are currently eight major licensed Cannabis growers in Israel including Pharmocann. In August 2019, 350 applicants responded to Israel's call for additional Cannabis cultivators. Israel is a leader in Cannabis developments due to its well-developed ecosystem of researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and pharma and government policies. The government's unopposed 2021 draft legalization Cannabis bill would decriminalize personal Cannabis use with public stores allowed to sell products to Israelis 21 and older (January 2021 Cannatech Legalization Review). Cannabis exports from Israel are allowed but only after local medical Cannabis demand is fulfilled for the current 80,000 medical Cannabis patients.

Pharmocann's Head of Cultivation, Asaf Shaked commented, "We are very interested to see how much additional value CO2 Delivery Solutions technology will create in our Cannabis operation. Until now we have not been able to utilize CO2 gas, due to the structure of our greenhouses. The benefits seen with other Cannabis growers in Canada makes CO2 Delivery Solutions a very promising and potentially valuable technology to us."

Greenmist CEO, Uzi Breier stated, "CO2 Gro's CO2 Delivery Solutions technology and lack of global competition inspired us to form a new company focused on pursuing the many protected agriculture opportunities available in Israel. Aside from the Cannabis market, Israel has nearly 1.5 billion square feet of protected agriculture including tunnels, shade houses, net houses, hoop houses and greenhouses, all markets we are pursuing."

CO2 Gro's VP Sales & Strategic Alliances, Aaron Archibald commented, "Greenmist sourced the Pharmocann opportunity and will be managing the project with our remote guidance. Pharmocann is an ideal customer as they understand the benefits of additional CO2 for their plants but cannot currently gas due to their greenhouse structure. We look forward to working with Greenmist in pursuing additional opportunities in Israel both in the Cannabis market and the larger protected agriculture market."