“As a grower, it is challenging to make sure your track and trace software is always updated when you can’t do so while you work. When you have to do all the reporting afterwards, it is easy for some errors to slip in accidentally. A tool that can be used on the go that automates the reporting for you makes compliance much easier and more approachable,” said Luc Richner (Chief Executive Officer) and Elias Galantay (Chief Consulting Officer) of Cannavigia. The Swiss company offers compliance software for businesses to trace, secure and simplify transactions along the entire cannabis supply chain. In Switzerland, the company has a 10-year contract with the Federal Office of Public Health to be the preferred traceability partner for the nationwide recreational cannabis pilot trials. “The software makes sure that everything is traceable and compliant according to EU GACP standards, with live reporting to the government.”
Luc Richner and Elias Galantay
“A digital twin of the whole production process”
Growers can use Cannavigia’s Cultivation Module to keep track of their production and quality control. “The first major aspect of the software is, of course, traceability. The Module starts from the seed or clone and goes all the way through to post-harvest. Each plant gets its own tag, and everything that happens with the plant can be logged digitally. We are practically building a digital twin of the whole production process.” But the software goes beyond just traceability, as Luc and Elias explain that quality control is very important in the European market. “Our goal with Cannavigia was to make sure that everything that needs to be tracked for EU GACP can be logged easily. From the fertilizer that you use to the pest management you’re doing and the environmental data, it can all easily be reported. As the production doesn’t stop when you cut the plants, all the post-harvest processes can be reported as well.”
QR codes can be tied to a room, plant, plant batch, or equipment. Using the Cannavigia mobile app, these QR codes can be scanned, and the user can easily log whatever they are doing. “When you add a fertilizer or have an observation, the grower can directly log this on the go.” The software thus makes it easier for growers to have oversight on managing their facility and staying compliant. “The workers in the facility simply have to scan a few things, click yes or no, and add the information necessary. While reporting is never fun, we make it straightforward and more approachable to be compliant.”
While this data is, of course, necessary for a company’s regulatory aspect, the data can also be shared directly with the customer. “We believe direct customer engagement will become increasingly more important in the cannabis industry. Once the industry is really able to flourish, the consumer will eventually become the regulator by being able to purchase a qualified product that they are informed about. With this data, the patient/consumer is able to make an educated choice and decide on a product they would like to use and support.”
A European focus
While the company also has customers in other continents, they see the developments in the European cannabis market as the perfect time to have their focus there. “A great benefit of our software is that we are in line with European standards. We decided to create the software from scratch, as we had not yet come across anything as detailed or thorough as the EU GACP standards require. We also notice that many companies trust European software more than American software because we fall under different data security laws. Of course, being the official partner of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health helps a great deal as well, and the overall demand from European growers for our software is great.”
For more information:
Cannavigia
www.cannavigia.com