Kevin Jodrey is the mastermind behind the original Ganjier concept. He is the Founder of Port Royal and Wonderland Nursery and has judged at such prestigious cannabis competitions as Emerald Cup and Golden Tarp.
Kevin is a renowned breeder and cultivator that brings over 30 years of experience uncovering, unlocking, and curating the exquisite qualities, traits and potential within cannabis varietals. He also has a penchant for resuscitating rare and exotic legacy strains from around the world.
Kevin Jodrey Teaches The Art and Science of Cannabis Cultivation
In The Art and Science of Cannabis Cultivation, Kevin Jodrey will walk you through the challenges that are associated with growing cannabis indoors or with mixed light. Being responsible for creating a suitable environment for cannabis is a lot different than working with the natural environment.
Kevin will walk you through the impact that these different environments have on a plant and how that is seen in the finished result. Quality can be achieved in both situations; however, the steps that lead to quality are going to be vastly different.
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A Conversation with Kevin Jodrey
Why did you join the Ganjier Council? Why do you think the Ganjier is important?
Language is what helps make a dream into a reality. The ability for people to be able to communicate is how we can share ideas and create new directions. I believed the Ganjier council would be an incredible way to begin this process in cannabis.
The Ganjier cannabis sommelier program is important in that it is composed of many individuals who have achieved success in many facets of cannabis. The common agreement between the participants allows people to be able to see that these ideas are not just one person’s vision but a collective vision formed from hundreds of years of combined experience.
In regards to what you specifically covered in the Ganjier curriculum, why do you think this knowledge is important for the Ganjier and the health of the cannabis industry?
A baseline of accurate information allows the Ganjier students to be able to better serve the customer. Many customers are better educated in cannabis knowledge, theory, and practice than many who work in the industry today.
This causes issues, as the customer doesn’t have the faith to trust the recommendations of the seller. The seller loses credibility, and the relationship that could have been developed between the buyer and the seller fails to materialize. If both parties had a common base of accurate knowledge, good communication could occur and a betterment of both is made possible.
Why do you feel it’s important for people to understand how to assess the true quality of cannabis flower and concentrates? What benefits does this provide to the industry?
The ability to accurately grade cannabis and its derivatives allows one to steer buyers into the best choice for them – a choice based on quality, price, or medical benefit. The more information one has to work with when directing a customer into a purchase the better the result and experience for the customer.
Without grading knowledge and the ability to teach prospective buyers the “why” of grading standards, we lump all cannabis products together. This is a crime, as the upper level craft products are in a league of their own and should be seen as such.
To you, what are some of the most important nuances and elements of truly high-quality cannabis?
High quality cannabis is felt in the soul as much as it is seen by the eye. The experience is created through meticulous handling and stewardship, from “seed to soul” as my fellow Ganjier Council member Pat King says. Every detail is important. Any one neglected diminishes the whole.
Why do you think it’s important to establish a common standardized language in the cannabis industry? Any specific examples that stand out to you most?
When we understand the words used in a conversation, the message is clear. When we do not understand the message, it can become ambiguous or not correctly understood at all. Because cannabis is so complex, we need to have a common language so we can be clear about what we mean and the customer can be clear about what they want.
Strain and cultivar are good examples. Strain describes a type of bacteria, but it is used as a reference for what type of cannabis we are looking at. Cultivar means cultivated variety – implying a plant that has desirable characteristics, which we keep and reproduce for our usage. If we are talking with science-minded individuals, using strain can confuse them, as they know it implies bacteria and not plants. This makes the user of the language appear under educated and can cause mistrust.
How do you think The Systematic Assessment Tool (SAP) will have an impact on the cannabis industry? Are there any parts of The SAP you find most valuable or beneficial?
The SAP is the most comprehensive system to grade cannabis I’ve ever seen. The depth of criteria will allow flowers and concentrates to be graded so the consumer can have an easier time understanding what it is they are buying, why it costs what it does, what to reasonably expect from its consumption, and have the language to explain to others those very things. It is all important. Having a complete way to view and evaluate cannabis is a crucial component in creating a beneficial relationship between buyer and seller.
Enrollment for the first certified Ganjier class will open in Winter 2020. Capacity is limited. Join the interest list if you want to be among the first Ganjiers to transform the cannabis industry as we know it.
