Their claims that “the plant will be obsolete” are strongly exaggerated. The cannabis plant is unparalleled in making cannabinoids just as Papaver somniferum is the king of morphane alkaloids.
The reason Paclitaxel is semisynthetically derived with the help of cultures is that mankind would quickly run out of yews if their bark was the sole source of taxanes.
Ive talked to the biotech pro 2019, whos lecture on secondary metavolites from tc.
Artemisinum (yielsinf 2%max on plant) is the hottest thing to propagate right now…
Tc is for fken 1mio €/ g metabolites, not dumpin mainstream cannabinoids into them… Even thcp or the upcoming novelty cbx will be breed to producw morw on plant not in tc.
Tc in cannabis is foe vigor peoduction and somaclonal variability hunt, and that dont come cheap either, with testing 1000 of possible canndidates foe agro/chemical traits…
Just my couple of pennies.
When all the power goes out and the sun having 3000 ppfd and the atmosphere being 700ppm CO2…
The plant will become sort of overpowered in its metabolite production for cents on a broad acre field.
Also when drought resistances and other useful traits are being breed, we will se true dwvelopment of the plant…
For now its just fken cbx and terps and little focus on the architectuee and habitus developemnt wich would in the right setting save millions (in harvest, drying, fertigation, etc…).
So were just at the bottom of a steep hill boys… 
maybe the bigguns are thinking of this… And doing it behindd closed doors…
Glad you said that. There is an entire cultural phenomena entrenched soundly in the plant itself. I personally don’t think that “cannabis culture” is going to get behind the idea of anything produced solely in a lab without Mother Nature.
I will say there are a many who don’t give two shits about any of that and just want to get high… case in point… spice smokers
FLOWER RULES!!!
I would wanna dive into that pool… (where is it)!!!
I’ll agree that Cannabis trichomes are the most abundant producers of specialized secondary metabolites in the plant world. Which is why the BioHarvest technology could be so impactful. They’re claiming to have grown trichomes in tissue culture, and I haven’t found any reason to question their claim.
You hit the nail right on the head.
This technology is not meant to replace or even compete in the recreational cannabis market. It’s 100% just ground work for pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoid formulation and research.
IMHO
This is going to depend on the economics of the process and local regulations. If a state allows outdoor cultivation and licensing isn’t based on plant counts, this tech might not be able to compete. In a state that disallows outdoor cultivation, the first group to implement large scale bioreactors is going to eat the lunch of all of their competitors.
Sure but that wouldn’t be it being a superior technology, it would just be blatant favoritism by the state.
As I am loosely educates about this, arent such reactors millions of dollars?
Cause of the gmp requirements…so a starter cost is not justified at least for now.
I dont see restrictions going bonkers, rather permisive legislative measers through the world so it still to be decided.
Either way someones gonna start this wave, but is it the right timing?
Shit, I thought hitting mg quantities on my plasmid preps (40 years ago) was killing it…
Next: train those trichs to make just about anything…
A bioreactor can be as simple as a giant plastic bag with CO2 pumped through it. Google “algae bioreactor” and you’ll get an idea. The startup costs would probably be less than a mid-size processor, and if you could do it outdoors, much less.
You could argue that disallowing it is just blatant protectionism. It’s a tricky subject. I’m involved with ongoing discussions with our state regulators and it’s clear that nobody has a good idea what to do about it.
I’m not suggesting disallowing anything. I would allow this technology, and I’d also allow unlimited outdoor grow licenses. Then we could truly put the two head to head on their merits.
I didn’t mean to imply that, sorry. I was just trying to point out how the people pushing this might see it.
The botanist in me kind of hates the idea of tissue culture for cannabinoid production, but the ecologist in me sees how fucking wasteful the current industry standard indoor cultivation is and would welcome the averaging down this would bring.
Really the states should just allow 100 acre outdoor cannabis grows like they do with hemp…
Temp control is pretty critical for successful algae culture, would be especially challenging outdoor. Also contamination is a challenge in the long run, don’t necessarily need to be sterile like in tissue culture but most bacteria/native algae could outcompete.
Still algae culture for secondary metabolites is much more scalable than strait tissue culture. But growing plants from seed (gmo or native) is going to be hard to beat for sheer simplicity.
Have you read this article https://www.cannabistech.com/articles/how-to-grow-cannabis-without-growing-a-plant/ yet? He said people ask: “Did you grow a flower? No, we grow the trichomes. We don’t grow it in soil.” And I thought making Honey Oil was high tech! Read this article it’s interesting and about the FUTURE…