Last Friday for my Live Q&A, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brendon Roberts, author of “Cannabis Development” and former Director of Cultivation for Sugar Cane Cannabis in British Columbia. I began following Brendon a few years ago, immediately drawn to his inclusive and inviting communication style that seems to resonate with everyone, not just cannabis cultivators. I was equally impressed by his unique growing style at the time: very short plants with a massive flower-to-leaf ratio, a technique I had seen before in home grows, but not commercial operations.

Brendon explained his distinctive cultivation approach at Sugar Cane Cannabis was influenced by the facility's environmental limitations - it wasn’t designed for very large plants. So he encouraged early growth and bud development, maintaining precise environmental conditions each stage including specific light intensity and VPD ranges. He also kept nighttime temperatures warmer, even a degree or two higher than daytime, to prevent stretching, allowing plants that would normally grow five to six feet tall to be cultivated at three to four feet, with all that energy focused on bud development.

Brendon shared a story about an elderly visitor to the facility, a mid-70s woman who grew up in an era of prohibition, who was amazed being able to see and smell it growing, touching on cannabis’ appeal beyond typical consumers.

The conversation turned to Brendon's agricultural background, which began at the age of six, influenced by his grandmother and great-grandmother who raised him after his mother was murdered and his father imprisoned for cannabis trafficking. He talked about cultivating vegetables and selling them door-to-door as a teenager, and later teaching agricultural science for a decade in Dominica.

Drawn to Canada to further his studies, Brendon mortgaged his grandmother's home to attend the University of Guelph in Canada, condensing a four-year plant agriculture degree into a year and a half. His studies focused on combining practical agriculture with social sciences, exploring how to make agriculture more popular, sustainable, and inclusive for diverse demographics.

Brendon emphasized that this educational background heavily influenced his book, which aims to destigmatize cannabis and invite a wider audience to understand its benefits. He proudly shared that his book recently became a finalist for an International Impact Book Award (Update: He won the award!). He champions the idea of cannabis being openly integrated into society, moving away from a clandestine mentality and into everyday life.

Brendon and I share a passionate belief in cannabis's potential to contribute significantly to societal and environmental well-being, and that we can all be
”cannabis ambassadors”, helping others to better understand the plant and how it can potentially heal ourselves and our planet. I hope to have Brendon back very soon so we can talk more.