Cannabis Equipment News

Editor's Note: Download the audio version below and click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Brandon Barksdale, CEO of Dalwhinnie Farms, discusses his transformation from finance to leading a premium cannabis company focused on growing the cleanest product in the market. Brandon Barksdale wants to increase operational excellence and maturity in the cannabis industry. The new CEO...

This week on the Cannabis Equipment News podcast, Kenny Morrison, founder of VCC Brands , discusses how he was pulled out of a basement grow and into the nascent California cannabis industry, where he helped lead one of the first five dispensaries in Los Angeles County. Kenny Morrison is a risk-taker. In 2006, he was working with friends growing cannabis in a basement when he decided to try his ha...

Editor's Note: Download the audio version below and click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Terry Van Gelder, president at AGT Technologies , discusses why, after more than 40 years in the construction industry, he turned his attention to hybrid greenhouses for the cannabis industry.  Van Gelder's hybrid greenhouses have a dual membrane system; essentially, it's a buil...

This week, Paulo Sobral, a consultant at Drink Cannabis LLC , discusses why he left Pepsi in 2014 to join an upstart cannabis industry. Sobral is a "cannabis beverage fanatic" focused on helping develop and market innovative products that change the way people consume cannabis. While Sobral was at the Hall of Flowers event in Palm Springs, California, he stepped away from the show to tal...

This week, James Eaves, Ph. D, director of indoor agriculture at VoltServer, discusses what he calls the first innovation to electricity since the current wars between Tesla and Edison. VoltServer produces equipment and software that drastically reduces the cost, danger and time associated with installing and maintaining power systems. They call it "Digital Electricity™." Digital Electri...

This week, Mark Doherty, partner at Doherty Agriculture and advisor to Dual Draft Integrated Airflow discusses what he's encountered in more than 10 years in the controlled environment agriculture market. He built his first commercial indoor farm in 2010 and made every mistake imaginable, but he learned a lot. Since then, the market has changed drastically. Now, he works with Dual Draft to so...

This week, Wes Reynolds, President and CEO, Green Mill Supercritical discusses his transition from a 20-year Coca-Cola vet to the head of Green Mill Supercritical, a company that specializes in CO2 extraction. Reynolds discusses why his company is fully invested in CO2 extraction and how, by the end of 2022, ethanol-free CO2 extraction stands to become the standard for all others to meet. Green Mi...

This week, Mitch Galton, Director of Business Development at urban-gro , discusses why he left college early to start a career in cannabis. Galton's new cannabis path commenced in LED lighting with Fluence, but has since graduated into a role that has him working closer to the plant at urban-gro, a company that specializes in architectural, engineering and cultivation systems integration for...

Editor's Note: Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Luke Costello discusses why Mach Technologies entered the cannabis business after noticing some glaring gaps in equipment and innovation. Mach Technologies has been making highly automated equipment for more than 80 years. The company's experience ranges from the automotive to pharmaceutical industries. Three years ago,...

Editor's Note: Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Christian Hageseth, chief operating officer of VIST Labs , discusses how a game of golf permanently changed the trajectory of his career.  In 2009, Hageseth was an out-of-work real estate finance professional who was a casualty of the economic crisis in 2008. He was invited to play a round of golf where he met an individual...

Editor's Note: Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Jeffrey Thorn, CEO of 420 Kingdom , discusses why he sold his HR outsourcing company to start a high-end cannabis delivery service based on aeroponic cultivation.  In 2000, Jeffrey Thorn founded a human resources outsourcing company that specialized in helping cannabis companies with payroll and benefits. A few years ago, he...

Editor's Note: Download the audio version below and click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Andrew Thut, chief investment officer of 4Front Ventures discusses how he moved from a career in finance to become a leader at a vertically integrated, multi-state cannabis operator. 4Front Ventures has a reputation for hitting high product quality standards with low-cost cultivation and...

Editor's Note: Download the audio version below and click here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Grant Schuster and Jacob Dooley from Accelerant Manufacturing discuss their Production as a Service (PaaS) business model that offers "cannabis manufacturing in a box." Please make sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast. You could also help us out a lot by giving the podc...

This week, Dave Nestoff, director of product and engineering at Simplifya , discusses how he landed at a cannabis compliance software company after two very different careers — and why he loves working for startups.  Nestoff is a self-described renaissance man, and the nature of startups allowed him to wear many hats during his career. At Simplifya, he not only works on software engineering, but h...

This week, Tim Vrieling and David Wolf, founders of Greenbox Builders, discuss how their pre-engineered, pre-designed and pre-specified facilities can get cannabis operators up and running faster by cutting out 85% of the design and development time.  In June, Vrieling and Wolf founded Greenbox to solve a common problem in the cannabis industry: facility construction. The pair had experience build...

This week, Matt Cohen, founder of Lively Spirits, discusses his transformation from a college student activist to an entrepreneur trying to crack the premium cannabis cocktail code. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. Please make sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast. You could also help us out a lot by giving the podcast a positive review. Finally, to email the podcast or suggest a...

Editor's Note: Clck here to subscribe to our newsletter. This week, Trent Woloveck, chief commercial director at Jushi Holdings , discusses his evolution from a finance guy who dabbled in product development to a leader of a multi-state cannabis operator. llease make sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast. You could also help us out a lot by giving the podcast a positive review on Appl...

This week, Aaron Silverstein, vice president of production and business development at the House of Saka , discusses how he became one of the world's leading experts on cannabis-infused wine by accident.

This week, Jim Higdon discusses his evolution from journalist and author to co-founder and chief communications officer of Cornbread Hemp, a company dedicated to manufacturing USDA organic-certified, whole-flower CBD products.

This week, Rob Sechrist, president of the Pelorus Equity Group , discusses his role leading one of the cannabis industry's largest commercial real estate lenders.  Sechrist has focused on the cannabis industry for more than four years, but the company has been in business for more than two decades. Since 1991, Pelorus has participated in more than $1 billion of commercial real estate investme...

This week, Colin Ferrian, co-founder and analyst at MJResearchCo, discusses why, as an investment analyst, he is working to generate more empathy for the cannabis industry.  Empathy in the cannabis industry is rare, especially among the investment community. According to Ferrian, the industry has two types of people: those with money — investment capital — and those with experience. Ferrian works...

This week, Zach Pitts, CEO and founding partner of Ganja Goddess, discusses graduating during a recession and stumbling into a cannabis career that has now spanned more than 13 years. When Pitts graduated from college, he pursued a career in urban planning, but he failed to find regular work. In 2007, developers weren’t hiring and he was at a loss. Around the same time, Tara Wells, Ganja Goddess’...

This week, Jill Ellsworth, founder and CEO of Willow Industries , talks about her transformation from running a successful cold-pressed juice company to creating startup Willow Industries, a manufacturer and service provider dedicated to cannabis decontamination. Ellsworth is a registered dietician with a Master’s degree in food science nutrition. About seven years ago, she started a cold press ju...

This week, Andrew Lange, president of Ascendant Management, discusses his work designing more than 1.5 million square feet of indoor cannabis facilities across more than 56 projects. When he started out, he primarily saw smaller projects of less than 20,000 square feet, but as the ‌industry has evolved, he now rarely works on anything less than 50,000 square feet. Lange started off in Washington s...

This week, Jesse Elkins, founder of Grow Industries, discusses how he became one of the most sought-after designers of cannabis cultivation and manufacturing facilities. Much of Elkins' story is being at the right place at the right time. When he graduated high school in Washington State, he enrolled in refrigeration school to become an HVAC professional. At the same time, the state legalized...