Duncan Chappell realized two years ago that he wanted to cultivate and harvest cannabis. At the time, medical cannabis couldn’t be legally produced in the state, so he enrolled to earn a horticulture degree at Northwest Missouri State University.
That same year, the university partnered with the e-learning company Green Flower to offer a certificate in cannabis agriculture and horticulture. “Oh, this is perfect. This is what I want to do,” was Chappell’s first thought when he received an email saying he could get the certificate while finishing his degree. Months after finishing the program, he began to work at a cultivation facility, growing the plants and processing them.
More colleges and universities around the United States are offering programs about producing cannabis commercially after it became legal for medical purposes in more than half the United States and for recreational use in 19 states.
Green Flower, a California-based training platform for cannabis education, has partnered with 13 other universities around the country to offer a six-month online program for cannabis professionals. “We created this program as a response to many, many people in places where the industry is growing who wanted to hire people who knew about the industry,” said Daniel Kalef, the vice president for higher education at Green Flower.
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