Cannabis Industry Going High-tech to Improve Cultivation Operations

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, May 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabis growers, like other agriculturalists, are turning to Internet-of-things (IoT) technologies, to bring new efficiencies to their cultivation operations, and improve yields and profits. The impact has been called "seismic" by industry insiders. A recent article in "IoT for all" said:  "With more and more states legalizing or decriminalizing recreational or medicinal marijuana use every year, the cannabis market is exploding in popularity. This market is taking advantage of cutting-edge connected technologies (such as hydroponics) to optimize everything from crop management to distribution. This market is the perfect ecosystem for cutting-edge technologies, especially when looking at the agricultural and business aspects of the market. Large-scale operations are also ramping up to meet the demand and are looking to tech to improve their crop output." The article continued: "Cultivating marijuana plants is difficult work. There are many factors that can go awry and cause a plant either to die or to produce male flowers (male flowers can be used for hemp; only female flowers produce buds with the cannabinoid compounds sought by medical and recreational users). Active Healthcare companies in the markets this week include: Sugarmade, Inc. (OTC:SGMD), TILT Holdings Inc. (CSE: TILT) (OTC: SVVTF), CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TSX: TRST) (NYSE: CTST), Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA), Frélii, Inc. (OTC: FRLI).

Entrepreneurs are retrofitting many existing IoT technologies, such as (hydroponic sensors) agricultural sensors and connected farming systems, to manipulate environments specifically for cannabis growing. The temperamental nature of these plants requires a lot of attention to detail and rigid schedules — things that can be ameliorated with connected technologies. With a connecting growing system, growers can add thermostats, temperature controls, humidity sensors and controls, scheduled light cycles and more to ensure the optimal conditions that keep plants in both the growing and blooming stages. This helps maximize yield and minimize the loss of viable plants.  

Sugarmade, Inc. (OTCQB:SGMD) BREAKING NEWS: Sugarmade, a major supplier to the growing hydroponic cultivation sector, today announces a new corporate initiative to develop cultivation monitoring systems for hemp and other agricultural commodities. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven devices will be placed at various locations within hemp fields to gather vital information about soil moisture, temperature, humidity, etc. and will be data linked back to central control systems. 

This monitoring system will allow hemp cultivators to actively monitor conditions in real time.  Sugarmade has entered into a joint venture with an engineering group to develop and commercialize the technology.

"Hemp is becoming one of the world's most valuable crops. Cultivators and investors are actively seeking ways to monitor the health of the crop to ensure maximum yields. This platform, which will be based on AI software from some of the world's leading technology companies. will not only provide real time tracking of field conditions, but will also make active recommendation to mitigate issues. We have launched this initiative to meet the pressing needs for cultivation monitoring of this valuable agricultural commodity," commented Jimmy Chan, CEO of Sugarmade.

The new cultivation monitoring technology will be based on narrowband Internet of Things technology, often referred to as NB-IoT, which is a cellular communications technology that provides wide-area coverage to gather and disseminate information. The main advantages of this technology are the long battery life of the data collection devices, low complexity of the network and the significant coverage extending well beyond existing cellular technologies. For these reasons, NB-IoT is practically well suited for use as a networking technology for hemp cultivation monitoring systems. Sugarmade believes this will be the first system to be developed for this unique application.    Read this and more news for Sugarmade at:  https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-sgmd/

Other recent developments in the healthcare, biotech industries:

TILT Holdings Inc. (CSE: TILT.CN) (OTCQB: SVVTF) Developments:  Jupiter Research LLC, a leader in inhalation and vaporization technology and wholly owned subsidiary of Tilt Holdings Inc., has further expanded distribution of its proprietary, high performance technologies in California through its integration with Tilt's software and supply chain services. The expansion allows Jupiter to establish a physical presence with increased geographic reach throughout California, enabling Tilt to develop stronger customer relationships and deliver Jupiter products to B2B (business to business) customers more quickly than ever before.

Tilt acquired Jupiter in early 2019 to further expand its technology ecosystem and B2B reach across the supply chain. Through this acquisition, Jupiter has accelerated its growth with additional distribution opportunities leveraging Tilt's software, logistics and supply chain services provided by Blackbird Logistics and Baker Technologies Inc. The integration of Tilt's operations and software solutions, combined with its robust distribution services allows Jupiter to provide support to its more than 640 customers in California with just-in-time inventory fulfillment and services.

CannTrust Holdings Inc. (TSX: TRST) (NYSE: CTST) recently announced it has finalized a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Société québécoise du cannabis ("SQDC") to provide Quebec with high quality cannabis for the recreational market. "This LOI signifies the first step towards a long and impactful relationship with the SQDC and consumers in Quebec. This is an important milestone as we have secured national distribution across all ten provinces for our adult-use products," said Peter Aceto , Chief Executive Officer, CannTrust. "This will allow us to develop our brand presence in Quebec at a time when consumers are beginning to develop their preferences."

The LOI will serve as an introduction of CannTrust's recreational brands to the Quebec market beginning with two of the Company's most established strains that will be available through SQDC later this year.

"Like our partners at SQDC, CannTrust encourages safe and responsible consumption of cannabis by both medical patients and legal age recreational consumers," said Mr. Aceto. "To this end we support laws that make the underage sales and purchase of cannabis illegal."

Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTCPK: MJNA) recently announced that the company had its the largest-ever (unaudited) sales bookings month in its history in April 2019. The company also reached major milestones in its business operations.

"We are proud to announce our impressive growth in April," said Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Dr. Stuart Titus. "It was just announced by analysts at The Green Fund that the global cannabis industry is positioned to be the world's most lucrative sector and we're excited to be at the forefront of cannabidiol (CBD) as a segment of this profitable business."

Frélii, Inc. (OTCQB: FRLI) recently announced that it has signed a contract and licensing agreement with Optivida Health (Optivida), one of the nation's leaders in advanced hemp extract for the consumer market. Optivida will leverage Frelii's proprietary DNA Kit Packages™ to ensure Optivida customers can realize the optimal benefits of which specific Optivida products best suit their unique DNA profile.

"Historically, the only approach to using hemp extract, hemp oil, CBD and other cannabinoid products effectively has been through trial and error," said Ian Jenkins, CEO of Frelii. "Now, through the power of Frelii's proprietary DNA Kit Packages, Optivida customers can have their whole DNA sequenced and analyzed, whereby they will be given the ability to know what hemp, CBD and other products are most appropriate and what precision dose will work most effectively for their own specific needs."

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