“While vertical farming is almost standard practice for indoor cannabis growers in North America, people in Europe are just starting to get interested in multi-tier options,” says Kevin Biernacki, Grower Liaison and Regional Sales Manager at Montel. While servicing many industries, Kevin says that the cannabis industry is a big part of their target audience. Before working at Montel, Kevin was Cultivation Manager at a cannabis cultivation facility in Las Vegas. “We wanted to grow indoors with multiple tiers, which was not really done yet at the time. We contacted Montel and had them build a system for us. After that, the concept of indoor vertical farming started to move from there. Now, for most cannabis companies in the U.S., vertical farming is pretty much standard practice.”
Use of space
According to Kevin, most people realize the benefits of vertical farming. “If you have the ceiling height to go vertical, then it only makes sense to use that space. Otherwise, you would be conditioning empty space that you’re not growing anything in, which would be costing you money.” Accordingly, facility design is one of the main aspects holding people back from vertical farming. “Yet if you do have the ability to go vertical, the initial investment will pay itself back quickly.” Moreover, any challenges concerning slight climate differences within the facility can easily be remedied, Kevin says. “Most of the time, it’s the retrofits with HVAC already in place that might encounter some challenges with their climate. But if the facility is designed from the start as a multi-tier facility, those problems are easily solved.”
Maturing and emerging markets
Like a lot of companies in the cannabis industry, Montel has noticed the developments in the market. “The boom that there was in North America has faded slightly. Yet, there are still new U.S. states coming online. As each state becomes legalized, we see a surge of demand in that state, which then fades out once the cultivation facilities are built. We’re still looking forward to servicing new projects in the U.S., but we’re definitely expecting a slowdown as supply gets saturated,” Kevin says. “At the same time, we’re seeing many companies move from cannabis to food that are interested in producing indoors and with a multi-tier system. With the current climate changes, we’re expecting to see more indoor food production in the future.” Yet the European cannabis industry is a great opportunity for vertical farming as well. “Cannabis vertical farming is new and emerging in Europe. We’re expecting to see a surge there, very much like North America had years ago.”
For more information:
Montel
www.montel.com