Agriculture

  An area of growing research and practice is using lighting to help control agricultural pests. This can include horticultural lighting in indoor growing facilities (aka controlled environment agriculture or CEA) or nighttime treatment with specific wavelengths on outdoor crops. Greenhouse growers have long known that introducing supplemental grow lights to greenhouses can dramatically change [...]

The XL-500 Meter by NanoLambda is an ultra-compact, wearable, wireless battery-operated Spectral Power Distribution or Spectroradiometer (SPD) measurement tool. It uses Bluetooth to upload data and has an internal memory to store over 8,000 measurements on a single battery charge. It captures 340-1,010 nanometer wavelengths in a single reading. The device is groundbreaking in its small [...]

There are increasing signs of rough times in the horticultural lighting industry, including cannabis, food, flowers, and other Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) crops. Some examples include: Osram suggesting that growers cannot currently afford the expenditure on LED lighting because rising energy prices are consuming their budgets. Read more here. Signify’s CEO is also seeing a slowing [...]

The November mid-term elections were not just politically consequential. They also ushered in cannabis legalization in Maryland and Missouri. Earlier this year, Rhode Island’s legislature and governor enacted legislation legalizing recreational cannabis, as well. These latest three states bring the number of states with legalized recreational cannabis to 21, plus Washington, D.C. and Guam. That [...]

This year’s MJBizCon was a mix of new market enthusiasm subdued by mature market malaise.  Like previous shows, stalwart lighting brands prominently displayed their wares including Gavita, Fluence, HLG, Signify, Fohse, etc.  Booths were massive with most providing sunglasses to avoid the powerful 600W+ rays. A new participant also debuted – Verjure by Acuity Brands [...]

The Ontario provincial government announced new funding to help greenhouses switch from traditional lighting sources to LEDs. 

On Wednesday, November 30, the DLC will release the final version of the horticultural lighting Technical Requirements V3.0 to support the acceleration of energy efficient lighting in controlled environment agriculture (CEA).

Cannabis Business Times released the seventh-annual “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report. Results from the 2022 report demonstrate the increasing usage of LED lighting technology across all growth stages of cannabis cultivation. For the first time ever, at least 70% of study participants from commercial indoor or greenhouse operations with supplemental lighting used LEDs in cannabis propagation, vegetation and/or flowering stages.