Educational Feature ►
Want a Career in the $ 3.5 Billion Cannabis Industry ?
Cultivation Solutions Group Offers a New Educational Program for Growers . by Alexandria Stith , contributing writer
The future of cannabis has continued to have unprecedented success , particularly within the new ( er ) Missouri market . As of 2021 , over 140 dispensaries are operating within the Missouri market with patients having the opportunity to understand their products like never before . With the palpable excitement has come the curious that are hoping to expand their networks in a different way that can offer patients the chance to become a part of the industry . Cultivation Solutions Group ( CSG ) is the beginning of what ’ s to come of not only understanding cannabisbut studying it from seed to flower .
About four years ago , founder and creator of CSG , Mike Birkel , was introduced to BeLeaf Medical , one of the first licensed Vertically Integrated Medical Cannabis companies . Before winning cannabis licenses in 2020 , BeLeaf originally held a license from the Missouri Department of Agriculture to grow industrial hemp for CBD . During his tour of the facility , something stood out to Birkel — and it wasn ’ t just the plants . “ When I toured the facility , one thing I saw was the amount of the electrical work going on , and I saw the amount of work and the effort that was required for the plants . And from there it piqued my interest .” Birkel , having an understanding of electrical work , his father having owned and operated his electrical company for fifty years , he was on his way to creating something that began to form into its own .
With the help of a few successful investment opportunities , Birkel was getting the chance to see first-hand the needs that were not being met within these facilities . “ After doing the first few jobs at some of these facilities , I noticed some of the mistakes that were being made . Some of the major problems were ordering grow lights that would come in the wrong size , the type of grow systems , the type of racks they had ; they all would be wrong somehow . We started investigating and were finding out that they were coming from thirdparty vendors that really weren ’ t doing a good job coordinating sightspecific needs to the equipment that they were buying .” Something else that Birkel had noticed was that these growers were also buying from multiple vendors , limiting their ability to purchase a multitude of products at one time . This was proving to not only be an identifiable problem but one Birkel knew he could fix .
Through fostering connections between other companies and vendors , Birkel envisioned an opportunity for growers to go from hobby enthusiasts to legitimate competitors within the cannabis market . “ I wanted there to be a partnership between cannabis and Birkel Electric . From there , I began to forge relationships between different lighting vendors and some of the different growing vendors .” Having the expertise to identify some of the needs he learned through his networking , he understood that to grow any successful plant , one of the biggest challenges for any successful grow is the lighting . Without proper lighting , the standard of the plant changes dramatically . “ They have different lights for different applications during the
grow process ; different tiers can offer different things … There ’ s a lot of things that go into the nature of lighting , depending on what you are looking for .” Identifying this need is where the transition of CSG becoming an educator would begin .
Where there was an opportunity to learn , there was an opportunity to grow . What was at first a challenge to Birkel Electric would soon become one of its strengths , allowing them to provide unparalleled service within the industry . The beginning of that started with understanding the science behind it all . “ Unlike a visible light that you use in an office space , it is the scientific nature behind the lights that make the difference . They must be distributed at the right heights , the right intensities , and hitting the plant in equal parts because if it doesn ’ t hit the plant equally , then your plant doesn ’ t reach its full potential … We realized that it was much more scientific and exact in laying out growing lights , and there were not a lot of parallels in that market .” After joining the cultivation committee in affiliation with MoCann Trade , Birkel began to understand the market and what was needed in terms of electrical requirements for these facilities . “ We decided to build out a collaborative design space called Cultivation Solutions group that was both unique and a different format that not only displayed the products we sold but also working displays with the products .” Naturally , the opportunity offered through education behind products would bring forth the chance to teach on a broader scale . Having almost a mini grow on hand , Birkel began to ask himself , “ Why not just continue to build out a mini grow ?” The answer to that question would be the official conception of where the customer becomes the student .
Under Missouri law , medical cannabis is administrated by the Department of Health and Senior Services ( DHSS ), but what makes Missouri unique is its Industrial Hemp Program , which operates under the Missouri Department of Agriculture . For Birkel to achieve his goal , noting that hemp and cannabis grow under similar expectations and conditions , he applied for his Hemp license , and from there , his idea to offer an educational course unlike any other was underway . “ There was no program that offered cultivationspecific needs to patients . In the space that we started building out , I thought of starting an apprenticeship program . What I was discovering about some of the cannabis programs that were being offered is they were primarily online schools , and the experience was simply an exchange of data instead of having actual hands-on experience . With that knowledge , we decided to launch the Midwest Cannabis Institute ( MCI ).”
The twelve-week MCI course will offer students an experience not found anywhere else in Missouri . With classes starting small in number students , they will meet three times a week for three hours each day . The first hour offering classroom instruction , such as understanding the nature of the plant from seed to propagation to vegetation to flowering . The following hour provides a more hands-on