Guillermo and Brett are joined by Kevin Brooks, CEO of Conception Nurseries. They break down cannabis cultivation, particularly tissue-culture services. Kevin shares his journey from the tech industry to cannabis, emphasizing the importance of tissue culture in providing clean, consistent plant genetics. He discusses the challenges in the cannabis supply chain and the benefits of outsourcing mother plant cultivation. The episode highlights the future of cannabis cultivation, potential federal rescheduling impacts, and the importance of education in the industry.
“The supply chain was broken. On one hand, you had a plant that was relatively immature and never studied for large-scale commercial agronomic traits. On the other hand, you had technology that existed outside of cannabis but needed to pivot into the space.” – Kevin Brooks
The finer details of this episode:
Episode resources:
Timestamps:
Introduction to the Show (00:00:00)
Overview of the Cannabis Success Show's focus on scaling cannabis businesses.
Discussion on Tissue Culture Services (00:00:25)
Introduction of Kevin Brooks and the significance of tissue culture in cannabis cultivation.
Brett's Insights on Cultivation (00:01:27)
Brett shares thoughts on innovative cultivation practices and the significance of plant genetics.
Eliminating Risks in Cannabis Cultivation (00:02:29)
Discussion on how tissue culture can mitigate risks related to pests and product quality.
Introduction of Co-Host and Guest (00:03:15)
Brett Adams joins the show, and Kevin Brooks is introduced as the guest.
Kevin's Background in Cannabis (00:04:24)
Kevin shares his journey from tech to cannabis and the evolution of his career.
Challenges in the Cannabis Supply Chain (00:06:20)
Kevin discusses the broken supply chain and the need for technological advancements in cannabis.
Universal Issues in Cannabis Cultivation (00:08:04)
Kevin highlights that challenges in cannabis cultivation are not state-specific but global.
Understanding Mother Rooms (00:09:58)
Explanation of mother rooms and their role in cannabis cultivation.
Outsourcing Nursery Functions (00:12:11)
Kevin discusses how outsourcing nursery functions can reduce risks and costs for growers.
Pesticide Issues in California (00:13:25)
Brett raises concerns about pesticide contamination in cannabis products.
Focus on Clean Plant Genetics (00:14:44)
Kevin explains how they ensure the cleanliness and quality of their plants.
Agronomic Trait Testing (00:15:27)
Discussion on testing for plant performance traits like pest resistance and drought tolerance.
Metrics for Financial Assessment (00:17:40)
Kevin outlines key metrics for evaluating the financial benefits of tissue culture plants.
Upcoming Whitepaper on Plant Performance (00:19:10)
Announcement of a whitepaper comparing traditional propagation and tissue culture methods.
Future of Cannabis Industry Specialization (00:20:33)
Kevin discusses the shift from vertical integration to specialization in the cannabis supply chain.
Future of the Industry (00:21:42)
Discussion on the industry's reliance on specialized supply chain segments for survival.
State Regulations and Rescheduling (00:21:54)
Exploration of state requirements for tissue culture and potential future changes in regulations.
Rescheduling Impact on Capital (00:22:50)
Insights on how rescheduling cannabis could affect industry capital and investment over time.
Vertical Integration Challenges (00:24:44)
Discussion on the complexities of vertical integration in the cannabis supply chain.
Customer Onboarding Process (00:25:38)
Overview of the gradual onboarding process for growers using tissue culture services.
Future Growth and Expansion (00:27:03)
Excitement about the growth of Conception Nurseries and the cannabis industry overall.
Educational Resources for Tissue Culture (00:28:01)
Information on available training and resources for learning about tissue culture in cannabis.
Upcoming Events and Networking (00:29:12)
Details on events and opportunities for networking within the cannabis industry.
Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks (00:30:02)
Kevin Brooks shares final reflections and encourages listeners to reach out for more information.
Intro 00:00:00 Welcome to the Cannabis Success Show. If you're a cannabis company owner or operator who's ready to scale your business, grow your profits, and plant the seeds to take your business to new heights. This show is for you. We'll share expert insights, industry trends, and actionable strategies to help you blaze a trail of success in the cannabis industry.
Guillermo 00:00:25 Welcome to the Cannabis Success Show. Today we're talking about cultivation, the cultivation piece of the supply chain. more specifically tissue culture services within the cannabis, sector. We have Kevin Brooks, who's a visionary entrepreneur. He's the CEO and founder of Conception Nurseries. conception is a is a supplier of cannabis plants. And they're, the sole provider of commercial scale, multi-state tissue culture services within the cannabis sector. and they hold the distinction of being the largest cannabis plant provider, globally. And so, this was a fascinating episode, Brett, something that we really have not gotten into. I loved what he has to say about the future of cannabis, really moving away from vertical integration.
Guillermo 00:01:17 So, for our listeners, just make sure you listen to that piece of it. But what was your take on it? Brett.
Brett 00:01:27 Yeah, it was fascinating talking to Kevin. I mean, I could talk about, you know, the ag side of things and cultivation side of things all day long and some of the, some of the innovative work and stuff that they're doing, on their end. So it was, it was interesting to kind of hear about, you know, get away from the financial side of things a little bit and hear a little bit more about this is a plant, right? And we are growing a plant. And as a part of that, it is it is a living organism and it takes care and cultivation and it has its own genetics and, and things like that that come out of it. And there's things that you can do to improve those genetics and testing and, and everything to, to make sure that you are getting the highest quality plant that you that you can get.
Brett 00:02:10 And it was it was fantastic talking to him about, you know, kind of the work that they're doing in that space and to make sure that that, you know, that the industry as a whole has legitimate, safe, you know, product to, to, to consume. So.
Guillermo 00:02:29 Yeah, I mean, I just I love what he has to say about how some of this can help the industry because on top of an industry that's already challenged, being able to eliminate some of the risks around pesticides, and just the way he overall described just, you know, on a very basic level, how, cannabis is different from other, commodities, I think is just, really fascinating. So just really make sure you stick around to the end. He really gets into. I know you liked the plant side. He did kind of touch on the end on the metrics and really financially how you can look at this and see if it's something that, that you want to do as a cultivator.
Guillermo 00:03:15 That's what's coming up next on the cannabis success show. And enjoy the episode. Welcome to the Cannabis Success show. Today I'm joined by my co-host, Brett Adams. Brett, how are you doing today?
Brett 00:03:29 I'm good to hear. It's good to be back on after the holiday and stuff like that. I got a chance to recoup and re-energize, so I'm raring. I'm ready to go. How about you?
Guillermo 00:03:38 Yeah, it was a nice little break. I didn't know I needed it, but it was. It was much needed. Well, let's get, let's get to meet our guest. We have a really exciting episode today because we are joined by Kevin Brooks. He's the CEO and founder of Conception Nurseries. Their leader in the cannabis industry and a supplier of cannabis plants, and the sole provider of commercial scale multi-state tissue culture services within the cannabis sector. And that's a mouthful. So, we're going to want to break down and get into what exactly is tissue culture. But Kevin, before we get into that, we always like to just start.
Guillermo 00:04:18 Can you give us your background more personally just how you got into the cannabis space?
Kevin 00:04:24 Oh, yeah. Look, I began my professional career in, in tech and Silicon Valley, ended up, have a few partners. We sold our company to a private equity back competitor and eventually sold that to a publicly traded company and just woke up one day and didn't want to do the large Bay area tech deal and move the family out to the Sacramento region. And I ended up linking up with a guy who I went to college with who I think candidly sold me weed in college. And he really just kind of stayed in the game, had a couple of dispensaries, you know, known for growing super premium cannabis. And this was right around 2015. So, if you remember, Colorado had just passed, Douglas Recreation. Oregon and Washington were right behind it, and it was only a matter of time before California caught up. And so, I sat down with, with Caleb Kountz, who's the owner and founder of, Connected Cannabis.
Kevin 00:05:19 and, we just talked about what the future would look like of cannabis in California. and after several meetings and, and just discussions around kind of where the industry is going and how they're positioned. ended up stepping into CEO. At the time, they were just, again, a couple of dispensaries and a grow. And we took that business and Berner, signed the first kind of licensing plan touching entity for cookies. And so, we were really the cultivation, manufacturing, distribution retail arm for cookies. So, we rebranded our store's cookies and had a great relationship with Berner and, over the course of a few years, Berner wanted to take cookies one direction. Caleb and his partner Luke wanted to take their company in another direction. So, we rebranded the company, Connected Cannabis. And, connected again is now a multi-state operator. Super premium. and I think during my time with cookies and connected, it became very clear to me that, the supply chain was broken. Right. And it was broken in two different ways.
Kevin 00:06:20 On one hand, you had a plant that was, you know, relatively immature, has never been studied for large scale commercial agronomic traits. On the other hand, you had the technology and by technology, you know, you could refer to, you know, what the LED lighting industry has done over the last several years. When I, when I first got into cannabis, everyone used the right, and the and the lighting company has done a really, you know, great job of kind of converting that customer base and those growers over into, LED lights and that really that technology piece spans across all areas of cannabis supply chain, whether it's, you know, designing, HVAC or, dehumidification systems for growers that are cannabis specific versus what we had to buy that were just, designed for other types of agronomic or different types of agriculture environments all the way through to store POS retail store POS systems, which really didn't exist. Right? So, you know, I think what I identified pretty quickly was that the technology piece of it, whether it was lights or fertilization system or HVAC or, hardware software, it existed outside of cannabis.
Kevin 00:07:29 It would eventually pivot into space and, you know, be customized for our industry. What was going to take a long time to design and was very complex is the plant itself. And that's really what brought me to, you know, launching get involved with conception. And, it's really about, fixing that broken piece, broken piece of supply chain, which is that very front end of having clean, consistent you know, performance trial plants, that growers can count on, in every harvest. And that's really kind of the thesis. And what brought us to conception.
Guillermo 00:08:04 And, you know, California, Oregon is known as the the, you know, capital of the world in terms of premium cannabis. Right. And you're saying this problem, despite California's reputation or growing conditions, was still present in these markets, right. it wasn't a, state specific problem or anything like that.
Kevin 00:08:26 No, I mean, look, there's certainly different ways to think about it, right. On one hand, you have, most growers who utilize their mother room and those mother rooms, are a vector for pests and disease, regardless of what state you're in.
Kevin 00:08:39 You have issues like where we're seeing it really spread around, not just, you know, the West Coast, but really around the entire world. I was in Spanish just a few months ago. And the issues that we're facing, that we face here in California are some of the same challenges are facing around the world Oblate so the demand for clean genetics, the, the the cost, the expense, the risk to the business around other rooms, is a universal problem. And then you think about just plant degradation over time, right? If you have a mother plant and you take cuts off that mother plant and you and you replace it, right, that mother plant that gets replaced will be 99%, 99.5% like the original mother, but it's not 100%. And over time you start to see this degradation in plant performance. And then it's this hockey stick kind of drop off. And so, the really the only way to rejuvenate your plants or rejuvenate your stock, whether you're buying production clones or you're buying mom stock clones, you know, the way to get it back to its original health and vigor is through tissue culture, banking, those genetics long term.
Guillermo 00:09:41 Can you talk about mother rooms? Because that may not be as familiar for those who are in other, you know, agricultural sectors and how cannabis is cannabis works and how it's different. Can you describe what our mother rooms and tissue culture just have more of a basic understanding of it.
Kevin 00:09:58 Let me take a step back. let's just say, for argument's sake, the three of us go out and we start a blueberry farm, and we're based in, I don't know, Portland, Oregon. We decide. Hey, it's Brett, Kevin Gilmore's blueberry farm. We we go out, we raise some money, or we do it ourselves. We build this big, beautiful farm. we built bringing a bunch of automation. Where do we get the genetics? Right. If you're in cannabis, you kind of get them from some guy, right? Because nurseries don't really exist. Traditional nurseries don't really exist. And so, you know, we would go out to a company like Driscoll's or some of the other large berry groups and we'd say, hey, here's our longitude, here's our latitude, here's the kind of blueberries we're trying to to get, you know, we want half our farm to be big, luscious farmer's market blueberry.
Kevin 00:10:44 We want half our farm to be, you know, freeze dried small blueberries that we can ship around the world. Right? We wouldn't go to just some guy. We would go to a company that specializes in genetics for our specific regions that design genetics or provide genetics for a very specific cause. Right. And they look at our soil and longitude, latitude, all that in cannabis. You know, you can't really, really isn't a nurseries that have existed historically that you can go back to and buy plants from that are designed for your specific region. So, what you've seen is legacy growers, that have had to go out and get their genetics from, you know, from breeders or from their buddies or from some guy. And because they can't go back to the, well, every time, every harvest, they store them in-house. And these in-house nurseries are essentially called mother rooms. And most growers around the world have their own in-house mother rooms. And these mother rooms are a huge risk and an expense of the business.
Kevin 00:11:36 It is a highly specialized, employee that runs these, you know, they're again, they're heavy CapEx, heavy opex. Most growers want to grow, you know, really great product. They also don't want to manage their own in-house nurseries. And so that's where we really step in is we help them outsource it. We allow them to turn that risk center, that cost center into a profit center. And by, you know, supplying either their mother plants or supplying and production clones.
Guillermo 00:12:03 Okay. Can you talk a little bit more of how you essentially eliminate that risk, through outsourcing that, that function?
Kevin 00:12:11 Yeah. So, I think one of the value props that conception brings to the table is our plants are delivered in hermetically sealed containers directly from our lab. Right. So our growers have a high level of confidence that the plants are clean. They're not coming in with a bunch of pests. Right. So, we've got a very large customer here in Sacramento that we've done a lot of business with over the years.
Kevin 00:12:32 They have brought our plants in-house. They've grown them up. They've noticed. Hey, not only do these plants outperform what we have in-house, but it's also reducing our costs. And so, we'd like to buy more of your plants. And over time, they've got comfortable enough that they've unwound their own internal nursery and rely 100% on consumption to provide their clean stock. So that's an example of a group that has spent a tremendous amount of money and time on automation on, I'm putting out a, you know, fires around pest breakouts and IPM management and pest management expenses and decided, hey, this is a solution that works and de-risk our business. And when we look at it on paper, it makes sense to outsource this. And then they turn their mother room or their in-house nursery into an actual flower room. So now they're generating revenue from it for production.
Brett 00:13:24 Yeah.
Brett 00:13:25 So Kevin, one of the one of the big news stories right now in California especially is the pesticide, issue. Right. The, they're finding high levels of pesticides and some of the pre-rolls and stuff like that that are on the shelves, in some cases well above what's allowed by the EPA.
Brett 00:13:44 So, what kind of work are you guys doing in that space? how are you guys innovating in that, in that area to avoid, you know, that kind of contamination.
Kevin 00:13:52 So, we can guarantee, that the plants that we're putting out in the market don't have any kind of pesticides, that are that are as clean as you'll ever get from a nursery. If you go on our website and you look at our menu, you can click on the items on our menu, which will hyperlink you to the most recent testing. We work very closely with the university here to validate all of our testing. We do our in-house and then third party and then the university. So, for us, testing plants when we give them to growers is critical after the growers take them in-house. What happens after that? We don't have a lot of control over, but we can guarantee that they will get the best start from conception.
Brett 00:14:30 So, you guys are. It sounds like you guys are more focused on the inception of the plant itself and then the farmers and stuff like that go out and do what they need to do for the growers to, to grow the actual plant for retail sale and production.
Kevin 00:14:44 That's exactly right. you know, it's our it's my understanding that we are the largest supplier of cannabis plants in the world. Our plants, however, only 3.5in big. So, it's large, high volume, high volume, very developed root ball, clean pest and disease free plants.
Brett 00:15:03 So, Kevin, I really enjoy like, lawn care and stuff like that. That's just part of my passion. Right. So those producers and growers of seeds and, you know, I guess what you can consider to be the equivalent of mother plant suppliers like yourself in the cannabis space, they're doing a lot of testing on, like cold hardiness and drought tolerance and things like, are you guys doing any kind of testing in that space too?
Kevin 00:15:27 Yeah. Great question. So that's really more of an agronomic trait. So that's typically what you would see with some of these more advanced breeders. We're not a breeder and we're not in the breeding business. that said we are working with groups that are interested or entering that space where they're looking to improve the performance of a plant.
Kevin 00:15:43 So, the idea would be down the road, we could supply, you know, some of these groups with our genetics and ask for them to improve the agronomic traits. Great examples. Pest resistance, drought resistance. We do note, what plants perform well in different environments, and we'll steer our customer base that way. Like not every plant will perform in every environment the same. So, we run extensive performance trials. It takes us, if we do meristem culturing on a plant which is essentially cutting the heart of the plants. It's the healthiest part of a plant. It could take us a year from the time we get the plant into the time it gets out to customers. And so, if we're going to make that kind of investment on a, on an intake, on a specific cultivar, we want to make sure that it performs at commercial scale and that it has enough customer demand. And we've learned our lesson taking plants through that, you know, maybe had a little bit of hype and, and just never really took off.
Kevin 00:16:42 Right? That was a big expense for us, a big learning lesson. And then we've had plants that have come through that have a ton of hype, but they really just don't perform a commercial scale. And so, for us, it's about finding that balance.
Brett 00:16:54 Awesome.
Guillermo 00:16:56 Yeah. So, Kevin, you mentioned a couple things. One is just the improvement from having the extra space from eliminating, the mother room. And then there's, there's, there's the actual improvement on the, on the quality. How many when someone's like, coming to you and they're trying to make this decision. What are the things that you're looking at in terms of metrics? You know, at the end of the day, it's a it's the financial side. Right. And how could what does what someone like come into, you would have to look at to see, okay, what's going to be the difference for this financially? How can I, make that assessment essentially like what are some of the metrics that you're looking at when, when you're meeting with folks that are trying to make this decision? Yeah, I mean.
Kevin 00:17:40 Look, you know, what we've been able to establish is by every measure of performance, a tissue culture, gender or tissue culture plan directly from the lab will outperform one from traditional propagation and outperform can mean a few different things. Right. We're talking is the BS ratio. We're talking overall yield. We're talking consistency with THC. We've seen, you know, significant reductions in both labor and IPM, IPM because integrated pest management less expenses because right. You're dealing with a clean plant. You're having to you're not having to spend as much money on pest management. We've also seen that for outdoor growers, pests seem to like the plants that are a little more damaged or sick, right? Whereas a cleaner, healthier, more vigorous plant is less pest attention. The way that the bud structure works on the, tissue culture plant, you see deeper light penetration. So, a higher A is the BS ratio which commands a higher price point. You know, the wholesale level, less trimming. We try to find plants that maybe, you know, require less trimming or less work for, for, for from a labor perspective.
Kevin 00:18:44 So across the board, I think we've got a 50 point or 40-point inspection when we run performance trials to ensure large scale commercial agronomic traits.
Guillermo 00:18:55 So you're seeing significant improvements in the yields, and you're able to quantify that with past customer share it. And where someone could really gather this information, put numbers to it, and seek and evaluate the cost and see what the difference is going to be.
Kevin 00:19:10 A whitepaper coming out later this month from a grower. So, the hard part, the challenge in the past has been finding a cultivar that is, that is grown from traditional propagation. It's a mom plant. And then taking that plan through tissue culture and comparing it to a gen zero tissue culture clone and then growing that tissue culture clone up and taking cuts off it. So, you've got a Gen zero right out of the lab tissue culture clone. You've got a Gen one that came from that Gen zero ready to cut off there. And then you have traditional propagation. And the study that we ran was amazing.
Kevin 00:19:45 Right? So, we'll have a white paper out later this month that highlights the difference between the Gen zero, Gen one and traditional propagation. But when I say we all perform at every level, we've got customers that we've gone to and said, hey, we're so confident in this product that we're willing to share some of the risk. So, we'll sell you the plant at a at a predetermined price, a much lower price, but enjoy some of the upside when it over performs. So, we take on that risk for some of our customers.
Guillermo 00:20:10 Yeah, that's definitely something we want to include in the show notes. And depending on when the interview when the interview airs. But be great to get that so we can include that and share with the with the listeners. You had another topic that you talk about evolution from vertical integration to specialization. What do you mean when you say that?
Kevin 00:20:33 You know, I've been on a handful of panels and they've asked me about my predictions for the future. And, you know, when you look at other, agriculture industries, you don't see this kind of pressure for full vertical integration.
Kevin 00:20:48 You take states like Florida, which is an unbelievable state, huge opportunity. You know, you know, deep customer base. and, and this pressure to do every piece of the supply chain flawlessly is exceptionally difficult. And then when you look at, you know, the capital constraints that we have in this space, it makes it even more challenging. And so, you know, I think that part of what you're going to see in the future is less of a focus on full vertical integration and more of specialization, like what we do at conception, high output, you know, healthy baby plants. It's not a new idea, right? We've seen, you know, very large, well-funded, publicly traded companies in Canada attempt this and fail. We've seen groups, you know, in the US attempt this and fail. We have not seen another group that's been able to put out large scale gen zero tissue culture plants. And the reason being is it's a highly, highly specialized part of the supply chain.
Kevin 00:21:42 And I think, you know, the future of this industry to survive, especially if we're going to be capital constraint is going to be leaning on folks that do one part of the supply chain exceptionally well.
Guillermo 00:21:54 Yeah. And you're, you're, referring there to Florida where it's also required. Right. by the, by the various states. And I think Hawaii is another one of those where, even with some of this, I mean, you'll still see some states where it's it's required on the state program. Right? Do you see any of that changing, in the future or.
Kevin 00:22:15 I don't know, I mean, it's nothing moves as quickly as you'd like to. my fingers crossed right now for rescheduling. you know, but, but changing the requirements around for vertical integration, I think that's going to be a very heavy lift in specific states.
Brett 00:22:31 So, Kevin, we've talked with a few people who about jumping into the reschedule stuff like, I think it'll be a big benefit to the, the industry as a whole, but I'm not sure it's going to be the big boon that everybody thinks it's going to be.
Brett 00:22:47 Do you have any thoughts or opinions on that? Yeah.
Kevin 00:22:50 Look, I think it will be it'll it will be meaningful. And it's a great step in the right direction. It's exactly what the industry needs right now. You know, look, will new capital come in? Likely. they're going to be looking for deals and distressed assets. And I think, you know, the there's going to be we're not going to see the faucet turn on with new capital coming in immediately overnight. it's going to take some time to, to really see the benefit. But it's a great start. And it does infuse the, the industry. and it's kind of it's what we need at this time. So, I agree with you, Guillermo. I don't think it will be, industry changing for the next 18 to 24 months, but I think it is an absolute step in the right direction.
Guillermo 00:23:33 We'd like to pull people on this. I mean, we've, we've asked, every time we have a guest, and when we talk to prospective clients Yeah, we do have about half and half, you know, some, some negativity that it's, that it's, and I want to call it negativity.
Guillermo 00:23:51 Maybe it's being realistic or what we've been through, that it will not happen this year. and I think we're hopeful. Do you have a, your take your 5050 higher looks?
Kevin 00:24:05 I think if it happens.
Brett 00:24:06 Your crystal ball for us. Yeah.
Kevin 00:24:07 I mean, first of all, we've all seen the, the debates. So, I think our current administration is looking for a few wins that they can put in their sails. So, this might be one of the, you know, aces in their back pocket they pushed through prior to the election. I'm not close enough to politics to tell you. My gut says if we get it, if we are going to see rescheduling, it will likely happen this year. If it doesn't happen this year, it could be pushed off for half a decade. I mean, who knows? Things move so slowly. So, I don't know what the next administration's appetite will be. so I think it's a crapshoot. 5050 is probably a reasonable Assumption.
Guillermo 00:24:44 Yeah.
Guillermo 00:24:44 I think to your point about vertical integration. And we've had guests that are vertically integrated and they share exactly what you say. It's just three different businesses or more and completely different skill sets. And you're right that we don't have any other industries where it's, we also don't have any other industries where there's tax benefits to doing that. Right. Or there's lower tax rates for different, not tax rates, but tax taxable income for, for different pieces of, of the supply chain. So, I think to your point, some of that could change as well with the reschedule where they won't be the tax benefit of you know, being a cultivator manufacturer versus strictly into retail. Yeah. So, Kevin, what is it, like to work with you or for someone to get started? you know, can you kind of just take us through that, what the process is like?
Kevin 00:25:38 Yeah. I mean, look, our customer base is really. It's been a crawl, walk, run. And I think that there's been a lot of discussions and talks.
Kevin 00:25:46 And I think most growers are aware of tissue culture as a solution. but rightfully so. Like anything in this space, they're apprehensive about jumping two feet in. So, it becomes a very crawl, walk, run where they rent. They end up purchasing a handful of plants from us. we, we spend a significant amount of time and money on our customer success team to make sure that they, these customers have the very best experience and the onboarding and that the plants perform and that we're tracking them along the cycle, the plants life cycle. And then at the end of it, right, we the feedback is usually overwhelmingly positive. Great. performance. We're happy with the performance of the plants are happy with customer, your customer success team. The price is reasonable. Let's do another order. And it kind of just evolves into this. Hey, we want to clean up some of our genetics, and you clean them up in banking as an insurance policy and then provide us some of ours back. We want to we want to see, you know, a better pricing.
Kevin 00:26:40 You know, if we if we guarantee you a certain amount of plants per year, can we get better pricing? And so our relationships are really kind of an evolution over time. It's not a one time sale.
Brett 00:26:50 So Kevin, as we look towards the future, what gets you excited? What is what are what do you have your eyes on? You know, five, ten years down the road that just keeps you going?
Kevin 00:27:03 Yeah. Look, if you look at, it was a couple of ways to answer this. I think just conception in our growth, we doubled our revenue between 2022 and 2023. We hope to continue that trend. you know, again, we're seeing this problem around pest disease degradation and performance only becoming bigger. We have a team in Portugal right now that we're looking to, you know, expand to an international footprint. We're working with a handful of, you know, large growers around the country that want to bring tissue culture in-house because I can't ship across state lines. We have to build a little mini lab inside there.
Kevin 00:27:37 Grow. So really excited for the expansion of conception and eventually getting, you know, genetics, into the larger international community. I think just for an industry, I'm very excited about the evolution of the industry. I think more states and countries coming online, it only legitimizes what we're doing, and continue, you know, continue to see this really healthy kind of year over year growth.
Guillermo 00:28:01 Well, we're getting close to the to the end. Kevin is there, you know, for, you know, like you said, most folks are familiar with this, especially in the industry. What are some ways that they could continue to learn more about tissue culture? in terms of just really diving in and getting an understanding, are there educational webinars or ways for people to dive more into this and really want to learn?
Kevin 00:28:26 Yeah. You know, great question. There's a handful of folks that do tissue culture, seminars and training, hands on training. We don't have, we don't offer hands on training for non consumption employees.
Kevin 00:28:38 but we will offer tours to groups that want to come through and tour the facility and see what a state of the art, tissue culture lab that has a capacity of, you know, call it north of 7 million plants a year. and we're always happy to provide either a video walkthrough or an in-person tour, but there's a lot online. and you can learn quite a bit on our website also that's conception nurseries.com.
Guillermo 00:29:02 All right. And in terms of meeting with you in person, are there any events you're that you're going to be your team are going to be attending, within the next couple of months? Or where can people find you?
Brett 00:29:12 Yeah, we're always we're Benzinga.
Kevin 00:29:14 We're a great supporter of, we'll be at BlizzCon. There's a handful of California specific, events that we like to attend. Hall of Flowers and a handful of others. They're welcome to reach out on our website, and we'll let them know where we're at.
Brett 00:29:28 Okay.
Guillermo 00:29:29 And then you as well, personally as LinkedIn, the best way to find you.
Brett 00:29:33 Yes, sir. Alright.
Guillermo 00:29:35 Well, good. Well, I think this has been a great, episode. obviously a big topic, a lot to learn about it, but I think our listeners are really going to benefit, especially those who are maybe new to the industry or just starting to learn on this side of the business. But you shared a lot with us today. We really appreciate your time. Do you have any final thoughts to share with our listeners or anything you'd like to close us out with?
Kevin 00:30:02 No, I think it's great. Great interview. I appreciate the time. It's good to meet you both. And, yeah, feel free to jump on our website or shoot us a note if you'd like additional information.
Guillermo 00:30:12 Well, thank you, Kevin. And I think that's all we have for today and want to just thank everyone for joining us on the on the Cannabis Success Show.
Kevin 00:30:19 Thanks, guys. It's good to be here.
Brett 00:30:22 Thank you.
Outro 00:30:23 Enjoy this podcast. Visit our website Anders cpa.com/virtual CFO cannabis to get more tips and strategy for achieving business success in the cannabis industry.