b"Opened in 2019, the 32,200 square-foot facility is as big as some commercial production facilities. Building this breeding facility was a huge investment. Staffing it with scientists and breeders is not a small commitment. Every gram of cannabis that we produce here has to be destroyed. We have a research licence, meaning we can't use it for anything else, Pick says. We can't use it for distillate or any other product. Its dedicated solely to breeding and genetics. It represents a huge commitment to science and innovation on our part.All About the QualityAs research progresses, so does the industrys knowledge of the science behind the cannabis plant.Charles Pick (left) and Greg Baute do their work at Auroras cannabis innovation A big majority of our effort right now is focused on creatingcentre in Comox, B.C.quality products. Thats about chemistry to a large extent, says Greg Baute, senior director of breeding and genetics for Aurora.A lot goes into making a quality cannabis product, Baute notes. Yes, THC plays an important role, but just as key are appearance, flavour and aroma. Aurora works with focus groups to determine what product qualities appeal most to consumers.Cannabis is a lot like wine. People consume it for the aroma, the bouquet. We spent a lot of time literally going out and smelling the flowers, looking for those unique profiles. Every now and then something pops up that just really blows us away.Like Pick, Baute also comes from a seed industry family. His dad founded corn seed company Maizex Seeds. After a stint with Monsanto as a trait geneticist, Baute moved to the cannabis space in order to work in a crop whose genetic secrets researchers are only beginning to unravel.I was working in California when it was legalized there. I ate lunch with plant breeders every day, and so many of us were talking about the research they wanted to do in cannabis. Its decades behind every other crop. The research done inJim Brandle serves as vice-president of plant performance with Ontario-based tomatoes and peppers in the 1950s, thats the basic sort of stuffCanopy Growth Corporation.were doing right now in cannabis. Thats what made me think, I should really think about cannabis as my next career. Awareness around CBD and other cannabinoids is building, and Jim Brandle had the same experience. He served asconsumers are beginning to appreciate the different flavours chief executive officer for Ontarios Vineland Research andand aromas present in different cultivars.Innovation Centre for over a decade, overseeing major researchCanopy continues to invest in research and innovation projects on tomato and other horticultural crops. The promiseto develop strains capable of producing flower for direct held by cannabis lured him into the next phase of his career.consumption and are working to refine the way that people He now serves as vice-president of plant performance withexperience cannabis.Ontario-based Canopy Growth Corporation. That includes developing varieties that directly meet the I have 35 years of experience in the agricultural industry.needs of consumers with specific desired effects, because When I first joined Canopy Growth in 2018 there were very fewwe believe that is the future of how people will interact with people that had specific experience with cannabis agriculturalcannabis, Brandle says. R&D, including breeding and crop protection. It felt like aThis will include products that can support people to massive opportunity to take the skills I had accumulated overachieve their desired state whether thats connecting, focusing, the course of my career and apply them to cannabis, he says. managing stress, unwinding or sleeping.Legal cannabis agriculture is still new and theres so muchCanopy is also in a position to increase bud production at room for growth when it comes to advancing plant performance,the same time as improving consumer quality. This includes THC yield, and better sensory experience. Its incrediblyunderstanding genetic diversity and using crosses between exciting to be part of an industry that is making a substantialdiverse strains to take advantage of hybrid vigour. difference to peoples lives. In line with that, we are also improving our production Those differences come in a myriad of forms. systemsfertility, irrigation, disease and insect pest Brandle notes cannabis isnt just about THC anymore.managementso that genetic potential can be fully realized.104seed.ab.ca"