POSIBL Wants To Be The “Cannabis Farm Of The Future”

As the end of 2021 brings pain throughout California’s cannabis industry, thanks to a wholesale flower supply glut and an increased cultivation tax coming in 2022, among other issues, the future of the industry is on everyone’s mind.

Monterey-based POSIBL is one brand that is weathering the storm. The company has made its mark in the California sector by doing things a little bit differently: the company utilizes proprietary technology to build its greenhouses, which produce organic cannabis flower at cost, delivering a sustainable, ethical and high-quality option to consumers with continuous harvests year-round. POSIBL’s Smart Greenhouses use best-in-class climate control, requiring less water per pound of flower, and are three times more energy efficient than indoor growers. The company sells under its own label, as well as white-labels for other brands.

I checked in with CEO Jesus Burrola, who leads the organization’s growth strategy in sales and operations, to find out more about what the company is about and what it has in store for the future. Prior to POSIBL, he worked for 15 years at Beacon Building Products, the largest publicly traded building materials distributor in North America.

Why is POSIBL the cannabis farm of the future?

Jesus Burrola: POSIBL is creating the farm of the future through our high-tech greenhouse buildout, as well as in the ways our business caters to providing customized solutions for brands. We are breaking ground with a state-of-the-art greenhouse that incorporates the most advanced technology in agriculture, allowing us to do more with less. This technology includes the most efficient LED lighting, energy co-generation plant, water recirculation system, control automation, and AI crop visibility technology. We believe with the right technology you can grow indoor quality cannabis in a much more sustainable and cost efficient way. This ultimately means better quality at lower prices for the end consumer. 

You’re passionate about sustainability. What steps are taken by POSIBL to be sustainable?

JB: Our goal is to grow the perfect flower year round in a sustainable way. Most consumers don’t realize indoor-grown flower’s very heavy carbon footprint. It’s estimated that 1lb of indoor flower has the equivalent carbon footprint of driving from the West Coast to the  East Coast 8 times. An indoor setting doesn’t utilize any of the natural environment, so the conditions are created through the use of equipment that utilizes a large amount of energy. In a greenhouse setting, for example, you maximize natural sunlight and only supplement enough to reach ideal levels; and through water recirculation, you are actually re-using the same water multiple times. One of the very interesting ideas we’ve utilized is the use of an energy co-generation plant from natural gas on site. When natural gas is burned this creates CO2, which in turn is what plants need and ultimately ends up converting back into oxygen through photosynthesis.

Let’s talk genetics! What are some of the unique strains you’re bringing to the CA market? Tell us about your relationship with breeders and what it means to make craft at scale? 

JB: There are two recent projects I am excited about. First, Sativa Preservation Society through a collaboration with Space Coyote is a project aimed at preserving some of the legendary foundational sativa strains that are being lost due to being crossed with easier growing, faster harvesting and higher THC Indica strains. We grew three Haze varieties —Cuban Black Haze, A5 Haze, and C5 Haze — and these are 12-14 week strains that you cannot find in the market with an incredible energizing high. We are very happy to work with a brand like Space Coyote that cares about educating the consumer and preserving these important strains, as well as the breeders Skunktek and J-Trees that made this project possible. We are excited to have people experience these magical strains.

The second project is a collaboration with MeanGene from Freeborn Selections. We’re helping to bring to market his legendary Root Beer, a strain that has become an urban legend amongst cannabis connoisseurs. There is a tremendous amount of curiosity since very few people have ever smoked it, but the reviews on this flower are outstanding and we are proud to partner with MeneGene to produce this at scale and finally put it into consumer’s hands. 

Both of these projects share a common theme of partnering with incredible long time legacy breeders, and providing a channel to the legal market in scale through partnering with POSIBL and the brands we work with. This is the key vision to what POSIBL is all about.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to create a cannabis brand but doesn’t know how to go about doing it?

JB: There is a path forward and a supply chain already built that they can lean on, and an alternative path that simplifies the licensing requirements. In the same way a beverage brand does not need to reinvent the wheel and buy a cane sugar farm, you can successfully launch a cannabis brand in California through partnering with a dedicated B2B grower & co-packer that understands the technical aspects of genetics, large scale cultivation, processing, testing, and packaging. We work closely with several successful asset light brands that focus on their brand building expertise, while leveraging specialized partners along the supply chain. The goal is to focus on the area where you can add the most value to the consumer.

Jesus, how have your previous experiences prepared you for the cannabis industry?

JB: My previous experience was as a distributor to small and large contractors. As a distributor that supplied the exact products as the competitors, the only true differentiations were good service and relationships. In the construction business things rarely go as planned, so the ability to problem solve, be resourceful, and have strong relationships built on trust separate the good from the bad distributors. It’s no different in cannabis, there is no shortage of good cannabis on the market, but being able to deliver consistency, provide production visibility, resolve problems, and work with brands as a partner to help them succeed in the market is what separates us from most growers.  

You recently hosted a Cannabis Investor Summit in Monterey, and a tour of your Salinas campus. Tell us about the summit, and any key takeaways from the event.

JB: Our recent investor summit was a huge success. The goal was to educate investors about the challenges and opportunities in cannabis, introduce our shareholders to our partners, and provide networking opportunities for everyone involved and discuss the ways in which we see this industry is evolving. The legal cannabis industry is still in its infancy stage, and there is no playbook to the best path forward, especially with the ever changing legal challenges and obstacles. We believe by getting growers, brands, distributors, genetic providers, regulators, investors and other stakeholders in the same room to talk about their challenges and opportunities and share ideas, we can help shape how the industry develops. As pioneers in this new legal industry, we all have a tremendous responsibility to influence the future of cannabis, and our goal is to play a part in making that POSIBL.