Cannabis expo in Edmonton highlights evolving industry

The future of cannabis in Alberta could resemble the wine industry driven by smaller producers, the organizer of an upcoming conference in Edmonton says.

Randy Rowe, founder and president of the Grow Up Conference and Expo, is taking the message to the event in the cityfrom Sunday to Tuesday.

"You're seeing a lot more focus on micro growers, which is a smaller licensed producer that's a little more focused," Rowe said in an interview Tuesday. "It's really a craft. They also call them craft growers."

Rowe said he'd like to see people go directly to the grower and see the process from start to finish.

"It's like when you go to a winery and you get to see the grapes and you know, walking the vineyard and then take home a bottle of wine from there," he said.

"If you're able to go in and do a nice little tour, see how they grow their plants and at the end be able to purchase something and bring it home I think would be something that every province should take advantage of."

It's part of the potential evolution of an industry that started with a boom when cannabiswas legalized in 2018.

Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) approved 34 retail cannabis licences to store owners in Edmonton in 2019.

There are currently 179 licences in Edmonton, and 757 retail cannabis licensees in Alberta, the AGLC said in an email.

Rowe has organized the cannabis conference since 2017. The inaugural event was held in Niagara Falls, before legalization in Canada.

The conference includes panel discussions on productsand regulatory updates.

At the Edmonton event, he's expecting a third of the 4,500-5,000 participants who flocked to the event six years ago.

"It's nothing like what it was when we first started," Rowe said. "The feeling at the beginning was kind of like a gold rush."

An industry in flux

Tim Mallett, CEO and master grower at Alberta Bud Inc. in Edmonton, and president of the Alberta Cannabis Micro Licence Association (ACMLA), said that in 2018, there was a deficit of product. But now, there's saturation.

"It's still very volatile," he said in an interview Tuesday. "It's still a very immature industry."

The ACMLA, a non-profit group that advocates on behalf of the cannabis micro industry, formed in 2020.

Mallett said the federal and provincial governmentneed to even the playing field where the tax rates and rules for small growers are the same as for the big multinational companies.

"We're getting between 50 and 60 per cent of our top-line revenue taken by the government through fees and tax," he said. "There are a lot of people going out of business."

Mallett estimates there are 40 to 50 micro growers in the province now, withanaverage of 2,150 square feet of canopy, compared to hundreds of thousands of square feetforthe multinational companies.

Nathan Mison, a founding partner of Diplomat Consulting, advocates for regulatory changes to allow the cannabis industry to evolve and flourish.

"I think a conference like this in Edmonton at this time is really strategic, and I think there's lots of opportunities to have that conversation," Mison told CBC News.

"One of the places that I'm hoping we're going is cannabis to deploy side byside with the tourism and hospitality sector."

Mison has lobbied the city of Edmonton to consider zoning changes to allow restaurants and lounges to servecannabis-infused dishes and beverages.

And he hopes the next provincial government will amend the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act and Regulation to allow establishments to do this.

A highlight of the conference is the 2023 Canadian Cannabis Championship Finalists where a panel of ganjiers will test and ranksamples from 13 growers.

A ganjier is to cannabis what a sommelier is to wine.