Data is King at Cultivation Classic

Despite heavy rain and a tough Blazer game, it was a packed house Saturday, May 18, for the fourth annual Cultivation Classic award ceremony held at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon.

The Cultivation Classic is a three-day, scientific centered event that showcases cannabis cultivators in the state who shy away from synthetic and salt-based fertilizers and strive for sustainability. Over 100 entries from 48 cannabis state-licensed companies were put through rigorous judging and accredited laboratory testing before the culmination of the contest on Saturday night.

The event, heralded as Oregon’s — and possibly the nation’s — most data-centric cannabis contest, also featured talks, seminars, and exhibits from some of the brightest minds and biggest names in the industry. Speakers included esteemed doctors, politicians, journalists, authors, breeders, cultivators and entrepreneurs.

Crowds of craft growers, cannabis connoisseurs and plant geeks congregated much of the day around analytical displays of each entry adorning the walls. Strain photographs were accompanied by terpene and cannabinoid profiles as well as judges’ aroma intensity ratings and facility energy efficiency scores.

One trend visible from the colorful terpene wheels dominating each display was a shift from the common myrcene-dominant strains to a surprisingly high number of terpinolene and caryophyllene dominants. A large majority of samples showed THC percentages between 15 to 18%.

“The wall is like a work of art,” said Carolyn Dute, a team leader at Green Force Staffing, a workforce solutions company centered around the states licensed recreational market. “It’s great to see a lot of my favorite growers up there, and even though they don’t have the highest THC numbers they were ranked well from the judges.”

On the main stage, during the evening’s award ceremony, event Co-Founder Stephanie Barnhart preached to a cheering crowd about the judges’ findings and THC percentages.

“There seems to be a great choke point at retail, where a lot of monetary value has been put on the higher potency products with a lesser monetary value on the lower potency products which disincentivizes the cultivators from making those beautiful plants,” she said. “So if we look at the top ten most enjoyable flowers in this entire competition, 70% of them had less than 20% THC.”

Barnhart went on to add that enjoying cannabis is not always about high THC levels.

“I understand value, and I understand wanting to get the most for your money. But let’s talk about getting the most enjoyment for your money. Not getting the most THC.”

Noticeably absent from the Classic were signs of its former partner, Phylos Bioscience. Just weeks before the event organizers announced on Instagram they would discontinue their relationship with the firm. Concerns about Phylos’s potential use of grower submitted plant samples for its own breeding program rocked the community.

“Our trust in science has been shaken,” Barnhart said.

Despite this setback, the competition went on. Competition categories covered Type 1 or THC dominant, Type 2, 1:1 THC to CBD, Type 3, CBD dominant and industrial hemp.

A full list of entries and results is available here.

Resource Innovation Institute’s Energy Innovation Award: Deschutes Growery

Regenerative Cannabis Farm Award: Lane Creek Hemp Co.

Supplemental Light Type 1 THC Winner: Cannassentials, Durban Chocolope

Silver: Rolen Stone Farms, Wedding Crasher

Bronze: Focus North, Now n Later

Supplemental Light Type 2 Winner: Deep Creek Gardens, Dynasty Genetics Huckleberry Web

Silver: Bull Run Craft Cannabis, Lite Me Up

Bronze: Ideal Farms / Green Farms LLC, Kween

Supplemental Light Type 3 Winner: Yerba Buena, Blue Dragon Desert Frost

Silver: Yerba Buena, Corazon

Bronze: Truly Oreganic, Harle-Tsu

Sun Type 1 Winner: Alter Farms, Purple Wildfire

Silver: Frontier Farms, Cuban Linx

Bronze: Green Source Gardens, Koffee

Sun Type 2 Winner: Ebb & Flow Farm, Goji DC #1

Silver: Phantom Farms, Mighty Quinn

Bronze: Alter Farms, Pineapple Thai CBD

Sun Type 3 Winner: East Fork Cultivars, Blue Orchid

Silver: East Fork Cultivars, ACDC

Bronze: Siskiyou Sungrown, Sour Tsunami

Hemp Winner: OM Shanti Farms LLC, Suver Haze

Silver: OM Shanti Farms LLC, Elektra

Bronze: East Fork Cultivars, Oregon Guava

Outstanding Terpenes Award: Diversity: Alter Farms, Fire Runner

Outstanding Terpenes Award: Intensity: Trichome Farms, Black Widow

Credible Cultivar Award: Ebb & Flow Farm, Goji DC #1

Nose Knows Award: Eugreen Farms, Tropicanna Cookies

Ladies’ Choice Award: Pruf Cultivar, Pruf No. 24 | Astral Works

TELL US, do you pay attention to cannabis companies that have won awards?