As wildfires spread across the western U.S. and Thwaite’s glacier recedes before our eyes, and protesters converge on cities around the globe for Extinction Rebellion protests, questions are being raised regarding mass production’s environmental footprint – yet, despite being such a massive global industry, little consideration is paid to growing cannabis.

Change is underway; academics are now studying cannabis farms with the aim of understanding their full impact on local communities. They study where and how the plants grow; where their cultivation takes place; who grows them and so forth.

Cannabis farms are indoor facilities dedicated to cultivating cannabis. The cultivation process entails numerous steps, from sowing, through growth, flowering and harvesting. To thrive properly in its early stages when susceptible to diseases and insect infestations, an ideal environment requires temperature, light, water and fertilizers – these conditions also improve productivity during cultivation.

Cultivation can take place indoors, outdoors or in a greenhouse. Outdoor cultivation relies on sunlight for light and warmth; however, with it setting each evening and succumbing to cloud cover it’s an unreliable source. Therefore most commercial growers opt for an indoor grow setup, where they have more control over temperature, lighting and humidity levels within the growing space.

Greenhouses are becoming an increasingly popular cultivation method for cannabis cultivation. These facilities can be controlled for light, temperature and moisture levels to ensure year-round plant growth.

Greenhouses offer many advantages over indoor grow setups because they can support multiple crops at the same time, potentially yielding between four and six harvests annually depending on your type of greenhouse.

Greenhouse growing materials are typically watered using aeroponic or hydroponic systems, enabling cannabis plants to absorb nutrients as they grow, decreasing watering needs by time and money and helping prevent mold/mildew formation on growing media.

As part of its growth phase, cannabis plants require both liquid and powdered nutrients for proper development. These solutions can be administered via sprayers or misting systems and their control ensures they reach all parts of their garden.

As the cannabis plant blooms, it produces tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids that give users their high. THC is responsible for this sensation of pleasure when smoking or ingesting cannabis products such as edibles, oils, lotions etc. Flowers produced from this process can then be dried out, smoked directly from them or even used to make products such as edibles, oils and lotions from them.

THC is a psychoactive compound that works by altering neurotransmitter activity within the brain to produce effects such as euphoria and sedation. Research suggests THC helps relieve pain, anxiety and nausea. Furthermore, THC has also been proven to treat glaucoma, muscle spasms, chronic pain from certain diseases (cancer/HIV/AIDS etc) among other things.