Being still a somewhat young industry, the cannabis space is subject to quite recurrent change. Just like it happens in other horti sectors, most of that change is caused by the equally changing market demand. Similar to what veggie breeders do when creating market-tailored varieties, cannabis breeding companies create those genetics that better cater to cannabis consumers. At the same time, the focus of breeding shouldn't be solely on providing the end customers with what they want because growers, as part of the value chain, want something out of those varieties too.
The evolving genetics market
"In 2017-18, the Israeli-regulated medical cannabis industry was just evolving. The Israeli market was mainly asking for high CBD, balanced varieties, and low to medium THC varieties due to the THC cap," says Shay Bar-Joseph, co-founder of RCK, an Israeli cannabis breeding company. "As a company, we bred along that way to cater to all the approved medical cannabis categories. However, in CBD, for example, we started breeding from a gene pool of varieties with those characteristics were mainly what one would call hemp, and we came to the conclusion that hemp is more of a bush in its characteristics," chuckles Shay. "But when it comes to the smokable flower and the sheer biomass of such a variety, then you see that it wouldn't make financial sense for the growers, on top of being of sub-par quality for the consumer. So, we have taken a very high THC variety and depressed its biochemical THC-synthesis trait. That allowed us to offer a CBD variety that grows a good biomass."
Shay Bar-Joseph, co-founder of RCK
Then, as time passed, the consumer market changed, and the demand growers had to meet shifted. "In 2020, the market moved to high-THC varieties with a minimum of 20% THC. To address that, we have developed a number of high THC varieties, among them an absolute monster variety that can get to above 30% THC content," Shay says. Things changed again, and nowadays, the market is mainly looking for something new that combines the THC chemotype with a unique taste and terpene profile. "However, these are the things that consumers seek. While growers must accommodate that, their genetics must provide additional value to them too. That's why we are focusing also on the aspects of agricultural traits."
Shay indeed continues to explain that the people at RCK are now looking at traits from different angles. "We have noticed an increase in the amount of plants per square meter in commercial settings. When you increase the density, you also increase the chance of a pest or pathogen outbreak. Growers now are mainly looking for genetics that are tolerant to powdery mildew and other leaf-fungi, on top of all those consumer-related traits." Shay stresses the word 'tolerant,' as finding a genetic that is fully resistant to a pest or pathogen is extremely difficult, if not outright impossible. "Breeders must be very cautious in saying that their varieties are resistant to a given pathogen," he points out. "Because if you say that, you are basically claiming that your variety is absolutely safe from said pathogen. That, however, would be the holy grail for a breeder. It's much more correct to talk about tolerance. A plant with high tolerance would be much less susceptible to pathogens, and that already makes the difference between night and day."
Introducing F-1 hybrids
The common propagation materials in the cannabis industry are cuttings. According to Shay, this is an old-fashioned method that requires high labor, and the fresh, green tissue is prone to trouble when transported. "Normal cannabis seeds, which are cheaper to produce and handle and have long shelf-life, cannot replace the cuttings for the commercial industry as they are not genetically stable, so the grower cannot guarantee the results," he points out.
Currently, Shay and RCK are working hard to introduce F1hybrid seeds into the commercial cannabis sector as they represent the future of this space. "F1 hybrid genetics simply offer unrivaled performance when compared to traditional varieties," says Shay. "The industry lacks the same stability in terms of genetics that you have in other horti spaces that are using seeds as the propagation material, such as in tomatoes, for instance. With F1 hybrid seeds, which are genetically identical to each other, our goal is exactly to bring that standardization and genetics stability that non-cannabis horti growers have been relying on over decades."
This has been the true goal of RCK since the company's inception, and lately, RCK was the first company that exported F1 hybrid High THC seeds outside of Israel. Keeping on speaking of firsts, RCK was also among the first few companies to be awarded a research license in Israel, Shay points out. "When we started, we had the potential and the opportunity to go for a full vertical license, but we felt that the genetics research side was much more of a crucial pain point for the industry." That reasoning was based not only on the aforementioned company's mission but was also obviously grounded on an understanding of how commercial cannabis growers operate. "Unlike their traditional horti colleagues, lots of cannabis growers build a nursery in their facilities too. The nursery alone can take up to 20% of the total space of said facility. It goes without saying that utilizing that 20% of space for more cultivation would eventually turn into a bigger profit for a grower." RCK does not produce cannabis inflorescences or other final products but expertise on the first link in the chain – namely, the genetics itself and the propagation materials. The team consists of geneticists, scientists, and horticulture experts, which differ the company from others.
Tissue culture
Another innovative product of RCK is produced in its tissue culture lab. "This also, I believe, is part of the future of the cannabis industry," Shay points out. "It's much safer to start with tissue culture plantlets, especially if you are a medical cannabis grower. These are grown in our high-tech laboratories, and they get out of there perfectly healthy, strong, and disease-free."
Shay and RCK have their hands full with their hopes for the future of the cannabis industry. That future obviously includes the future of the company. "We are on our first steps towards becoming an international operator with a footprint in different territories for manufacturing and marketing. This will allow us to better distribute our genetics portfolio, mainly F1 hybrid seeds, in a very timely fashion. This approach will bring us to be one of the top-line go-to genetic providers."
For more information:
RCK
Kibutz Ruhama, Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, Hof Ashkelon, 79152, Israel
Tel.: +972-(0)52-8003800
[email protected]
rckmc.com