In 2022, the cannabis industry can expect to expand even more rapidly as market size, production, technology, and consumer behavior continue to change and grow. State legalization continues to be on the rise. The industry is expected to grow to $35 billion in sales in 2022, a 22% increase compared to 2021.
With the expected growth in the industry to come this year, it’s essential to know the trends to look out for. Below, we’ll go over six important cannabis trends for commercial cultivators you can expect in 2022.
Cannabis Trends: Upgrading to LED Grow Lighting
The cannabis industry is seeing multiple trends pointing towards a big focus on sustainability and efficiency. This is pushing commercial cultivators to look at all areas they can improve to help make the industry more sustainable and improve their own production efficiency and costs. So it’s no surprise that the industry is seeing many growers adopt the use of LED grow lights.
In 2016, only 21% of cultivators reported using LED lights in the propagation stages, and even less in the vegetative and flowering stages. By 2020, over 50% of cultivators reported using LED lights in all three stages.
More commercial cultivators and the cannabis industry as a whole are upgrading to LED grow lighting systems for many reasons. In the long run, LED lights may be more expensive upfront, but making the switch can reduce energy costs up to 50%. This can result in a long-term reduction in your operating costs.
Plus, high-quality LED lights are long-lasting. They’re much more durable than traditional lighting and will require a lower number of replacements, which means lower installation costs and continued savings.
Upgrading to LED lighting isn’t just reducing your operating costs and increasing your profit margin through long-term savings. LED lights help produce a more high-quality, harvestable product and an increased cannabis yield. They do this by creating more photosynthetically active radiation and allowing for environmental control for growers. A higher-quality product in higher quantities means more revenue for you.
LED lights are also overall better for the environment. With cannabis industry trends putting pressure on cultivators to find more ways to make their growing process more sustainable, switching to LED lights is the way to go. LED lights reduce energy consumption and environmental waste and produce less heat than HPS lighting. Less heat output minimizes potentially harmful heat being released into the environment.
Cannabis Trends: An Increase in Water Conservation
Water conservation has increasingly become a trending topic within the cannabis industry. Growing commercial cannabis is a resource-intensive process, including water used. With water scarcity increasing across the globe, especially in states like California, the industry is focusing on ways to reduce water usage efficiently.
Between the need to find efficient water management systems and complying with cannabis cultivation policies, we can expect to see the cannabis industry push towards finding ways to increase water conservation.
Outdoor and indoor cultivation facilities combined use about 121 gallons of water per square foot on average yearly. Indoor growing facilities use water steadily throughout the year, and outdoor growing facilities typically see higher water usage around late summer and early fall when the harvest season is approaching.
Since cannabis cultivation is done within a controlled environment, reducing water usage cost-effectively and efficiently is possible for indoor and outdoor cultivation.
Cultivators who grow cannabis outdoors choose to plant crops in containers to help conserve water and irrigate in the early morning or right before sunset. A smart water conservation technique used by indoor cultivators is dehumidifying the grow area to capture the condensation for reuse by adding in nutrients to the condensation. This technique allows cultivators to reduce water usage significantly.
A Continued Focus on Crop Steering
With sustainability still at the forefront of the cannabis industry in 2022, crop steering is claiming its place on our list. You can expect to see more cultivators striving to maximize yields and create a more sustainable business using crop steering thing year.
With water shortages and unpredictable climate change continuing to keep growers on their toes, the ability to control certain aspects of the growing process will become crucial in 2022. Better lighting, climate, and irrigation control through crop steering will be no-brainers for commercial cultivators. If you’re looking for better quality plants, quicker grow time, and improved sustainability with higher yields, this is a trend you will want to hop on.
More and more cultivators are investing in the technology and experts to track significant growth, plant data points, and produce their own crop steering strategies. California LightWorks is committed to helping commercial cultivators maximize their yields and sustainability with our industry-leading LED growing technology. Our LED lighting provides better growth with more sustainable production by increasing environmental control.
Efficiency Improvements
As the cannabis market increases, so do the supply and production. The growth of suppliers on the market has led to up to a 50% decrease in wholesale flower prices over the last year. This is creating more focus on efficiency within the industry this year. Commercial cultivators are employing options such as cutting operating costs and increasing production efficiency.
Commercial cultivators are starting to focus more on increasing efficiency in their flower production and reducing profit margins to remain profitable. California LightWorks is doing its part to help improve efficiency in the industry and production costs. We’re providing commercial growers with top-quality LED lighting systems. Our LED lighting systems decrease installation and production costs and streamline production processes for better-quality plant growth.
Expanding to New Markets
The push for state, federal, and international legalization is expanding opportunities for brands to scale at an even higher level this year than ever before. Countries like Malta, Germany, Luxembourg, and Mexico are making strides towards legalization.
As the cannabis industry continues to grow in 2022, expect to see widespread growth from brands in new markets, domestically and internationally. Established brands will be scaling their operations to new markets, looking for the same success they’ve had in their current markets. Along with large national US brands preparing to make their way into the future of the global cannabis market and set up for exporting and importing.
We can expect as more new markets open up with increased legalization, existing cannabis brands will be jumping on the opportunity to capitalize on these new markets and expand their reach.
More Cannabis Research, Reports, and Content
In 2022, you can also expect increased research, readily available information, and content to help push the cannabis industry forward. In 2021, the cannabis industry saw an influx of research published on the topic. Within the first 11 months of 2021, 3,800 reports were published.
This means a considerable increase in readily available cannabis knowledge in and outside of the industry. With strides like these in scientific information and data, we can expect common cannabis stigmas and misconceptions to fade away more.
The increase in cannabis information backed by science will surely make a difference in production, marketing, and legalization, especially at a federal level.
Cannabis Trends For Commercial Cultivators: Conclusion
The past few years have proven that the cannabis industry is starting to grow faster. The industry growth in 2022 won’t be any different. Between more legalization, improved efficiency in production, and new market penetration, 2022 will be a tremendous year of growth for the cannabis industry.
California LightWorks is dedicated to continuing as a key player in the growth of our industry. We don’t only provide the LED lighting systems to help you cultivate high-quality crops, increase profit, and have efficient production and operations, we proudly back our product up with research, development, and manufacturing done ourselves in California. For more information about us and our LED grow lighting systems, reach out to us, and we will be in touch.
