First a little background with my relationship with outdoor/sungrown cannabis. Before I moved to Maine in 2016, I will be the first to tell you, just in my personal experience, with outdoor/sungrown cannabis was never really a pleasant one, to the point where I didn’t think it was possible for outdoor/sungrown cannabis to be quality.
Shortly after moving to Maine, though, I ran into this farmer who goes by Woodstock Pharmacy, and his strain Haskap, which was grown outdoors and it truly changed my point of view on sungrown flower and really started my personal search for more fire sungrown cannabis in the State of Maine.
Around 2018/19, I kept hearing about this “net zero” farmer, Upward Organics, who ONLY relied on the sun and solar panels to grow his cannabis, and his goal as a farmer was to use/create as much renewable energy as possible.
While I never considered myself a “green” person other than a medical patient/ cannabis smoker, I can’t lie that the idea of having a low cost energy cannabis farm seemed intriguing and almost too good to be true!
Fastward to the present day, I recently went to, who I now know as Nate, from Upward Organics farm, who holds a 30 plant count license in Maine’s Medical Program, to ask him a few questions and take a look around!
Over the past several years energy costs have never been higher, while the price per pound of cannabis continues to drop, it makes it harder and harder for the small farmer to operate. So my first question to Upward Organics was pretty simple. “How much is your electric bill?” He explained to me that it can still fluctuate, but his average combined meaning his farm and general living is $70, but even in that breakdown $40 of it is just a “delivery fee”, while $30 is actual usage!
“WOW! Only $70” I couldn’t believe it! Why doesn’t everyone invest in something like that for either business? Then Nate explained to me that unless you were building out a new grow, it’s almost financially impossible/unfeasible for someone to convert, per se, their indoor grow to solar panels (if you aren’t using greenhouses, in which you use the sun obviously too).
So, as I understand, it’s best to base your grow size on how much power your solar can harvest wherever you are geographically. For example, Nate has room for more panels if he ever wants/needs more power. But to “convert” even a 40 light grow, Nate explained, “A 40 light grow would need to have 6 times their plant canopy in solar panels to break even.
Ex = 3,000 sq ft canopy would need (about) 18,000 sq ft of solar panels. 18,000 sq ft of solar panels is about 1,000 panels. We have 25. The key is not just power production but a low demand for power by running the business around nature, not through it.” Which having 1,000 panels would cost way too much and take up way too much space for it to make sense at all
So, obviously, if you’re in a position to think about your buildout and creating a space around your input/output of energy, then obviously the start-up cost drops significantly depending how large you want your grow and if you are going to grow seasonally or year around. Upward Organic said that doing this investment in 2018 absolutely saved his farm from going under as others are continuously battling their electric cost, even still after switching to LEDs.
During my time on the farm, I was about to take the time to look at his “climate battery” exhaust system in his greenhouse. It was my first time seeing one in person, and MAN, it is cool! Here’s a small video/breakdown of it:
So, as you can see, this is a super effective and efficient way to keep your ground warm in your greenhouse, especially in a climate like Maines, where farms like Upward Organic who rely on the sun, have cold beginnings and cold ends to their growing seasons, but again similar to the solar panels you need to plan out our greenhouse a little more than just throwin’ the ol’ loop up real quick!
As we walked and talked around his farm, I also found out he is part of a group called “1% Percent for the Planet”. He is only 1 of 3 cannabis cultivators in the group. The group “commits to donating at least 1% of annual sales directly to environmental organizations. We certify every donation to ensure businesses meet that commitment” according to their website.
According to the website, the idea behind it is “that a company has a responsibility to give back for the use of our planet’s resources,” which is a pretty noble concept, in my opinion, regardless of a lack of personal understanding of renewable energy, especially in the cannabis industry.
While energy costs are always a factor in any business model, guys like Nate from Upward Organics in Oxford County, Maine, decided to tackle the issue head on and design his farm to work with nature and not against to create quality, high terp products which in turn also helped his business stay afloat a tough Maine Cannabis market.
For more on information on Upward Organics, check out his Instagram
Or their website: https://www.upwardorganics.com
All photography was taken by: IG:@mainecannamedia
More work from Derek about his Maine Cannabis Coverage here at Beard Bros Pharms A Look Inside Maine’s Medical and Adult Use Cannabis Markets.
Derek Shirley was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of 19, he received a felony for 4 ounces of cannabis. After, he became a “cannabis nomad” living in Ohio, Arizona, and Maine, which he now calls home, and lives with his wife Sequoia and son Haze.
Being a cannabis nomad had its advantages, like relying on all markets for his medical cannabis needs which gives him a unique perspective of the cannabis markets. Currently, Derek operates People Not Parties Consulting, which helps local people and small businesses navigate their local and state governments without picking a political party specializing in protecting and preserving the small medical cannabis farmers of Maine. For fun, Derek enjoys screen printing and making cannabis memes under the pseudonym @gettinghighwithcats on IG.
