Looking into the future of cannabis cultivation and technology

PhotoX Advanced Sciences 2025, the cannabis cultivation conference hosted by Fluence, took place September 22–24 in Austin, Texas. Featuring international speakers, the event gathered leading experts in cannabis cultivation, genetics, artificial intelligence, cannabis lighting, and horticultural technology to explore strategies that improve efficiency, profitability, and quality in today's evolving cannabis industry.

This year's PhotoX highlighted the cannabis industry's shift from its early "wild west" era to a structured, data-driven model of commercial horticulture. With speakers representing industry, academia and science, the program emphasized the economic importance of efficient cultivation practices, genetic innovation, leveraging AI for data analysis, and disease resistance as key drivers of sustainable growth.

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Kevin Jodrey from Wonderland Nursery shared practical expertise in his session, "Perspectives on Genetics and IP Protection in Today's Market," where he highlighted how the industry should begin thinking about unique genetic traits with the need to safeguard intellectual property, offering strategies for navigating competitive pressures while ensuring long-term value creation.

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Dr. Max Jones from the University of Guelph presented "Polyploid Breeding in Cannabis: Progress, Challenges, Opportunity," which explored how polyploid breeding methods can safeguard intellectual property while enhancing crop traits such as vigor, resilience, and yield potential.

Dr. Maria Rojas from the University of California-Davis presented "Meristematic Clonal Propagation to Overcome Endophytic Infestation," which addressed how endophytic infestations in cannabis can erode crop value and explored the use of meristematic tissue culture to regenerate clean, vigorous genetics. In addition to the featured presentations, PhotoX 2025 hosted a panel discussion on cultivation quality featuring growers from Peninsula Gardens, BC Green, and Organigram, representing perspectives from craft growers, international producers, and multi-state operators.

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The session highlighted the shared challenges of maintaining consistency at scale while meeting rising consumer expectations, and emphasized how innovations in genetics, lighting, and data-driven cultivation practices are helping growers deliver premium-quality cannabis across diverse markets.

"PhotoX 2025 underscored the urgency for cultivators to adopt smarter, more resilient production strategies," said Dr. David Hawley, Principal Scientist at Fluence. "With international experts leading discussions on cannabis lighting, AI, genetics, and sustainability, the conference equipped growers with practical insights to stay competitive in today's evolving market."