As temperatures rise the world’s food supply is in jeopardy. The UN projects 25% of global food production could be lost by 2050 due to climate change, all while global population increases. That sets up a perfect storm: More people need food as growing regions shrink. For answers, experts are turning to cannabis which evolved outside of conventional farming relying on indoor/regulated environments. Now legal, the industry utilizes genetics & data to create cold-hearty/drought resistant plants. Testing standards also make farmers hyper-aware of pathogens that can destroy harvests and profits. Can cannabis-developed technology/data/genetics be used to increase growing regions, protect against pathogens and save our food supply? And can hemp be the next important plant-based food source?
David Kessler, VP & Head of Horticulture and Customer Success, Agrify
David Kessler is Vice-President of Horticulture and Customer Success at Agrify, a technology company providing precision cultivation solutions to the cannabis industry. He has 20+ years of cannabis cultivation experience including 10 years of CEA (closed environmental agriculture) indoor farm design. David’s focus on the application of technology to optimize process & workflow while reducing operational costs are a common theme throughout his prolific industry publications having written for such companies as Sunlight Supply, Maximum Yield Magazine, Botanicare, and Hawthorne Gardening Company. David also regularly lectures at many cannabis industry events including MJBizCon Las Vegas, Cannabis Science Conference Baltimore, and Michigan’s Cannabis-Aid.
David has also worked as a consultant to Universities and the Hollywood film industry; Working on several blockbuster Hollywood films including: The Hunger Games, The Divergent film franchise, and Marvel’s Black Panther.
David’s decades of experience with horticultural lighting have allowed him the opportunity to be a product tester for companies such as Sharp Electronics and the Horticultural Lighting Group. David has worked with independent 3rd party laboratories to provide unbiased testing data comparing the performance of a multitude of horticultural lighting manufacturers.
Additionally, David is the proprietor of Willowbrook Orchids; an orchid nursery specializing in Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums. David is an accredited American Orchid Society (AOS) judge and has earned over 45 AOS awards for merit and culture as well as the 2008 recipient of the AOS special annual W.W. Wilson Award recognizing the best slipper orchid of the year.