In cannabis cultivation today, many decisions are made in response to market pressures such as speed, yield, and potency. But after two decades in both cannabis cultivation and commercial horticulture, I’ve come to believe that the most valuable outcomes, both for consumers and cultivators, are the result of a plant and product-forward process, not shortcuts. Too often, the industry arrives at the conclusion that craft quality and scaling operations are at odds with each other but, more often, this is due to a lack of knowledge, skill, or both.

A truly sustainable, trustworthy cultivation model demands a broader view – one that considers everything from crop health to post-harvest transparency. What my company, Ethos Cannabis, calls a “Soil to Shelf” mindset isn’t about one system or method. It’s about re-centering the values of integrity, transparency, and plant expression in an industry that too often prioritizes efficiency over quality.

Remediation Isn’t a Strategy, It’s a Red Flag

Remediation, whether through irradiation, ozone treatment, or other post-harvest processes, has become common practice in large-scale cannabis operations. For many cultivators, it’s a backstop when microbial contamination arises due to any number of factors.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: if cannabis requires remediation to pass testing, something went wrong upstream.

The growing reliance on post-harvest correction raises concerns not only about product integrity but also about transparency. Patients and consumers often have no way of knowing if what they’re purchasing has undergone remediation despite meaningful differences in chemical profile, freshness, and potential therapeutic impact.

There’s a place for risk mitigation, of course. But the industry must ask: Are we normalizing band-aids for systemic cultivation issues rather than solving for the root causes?

Fundamentals and Crop-First Decisions

Similar to the trap of remediation, making decisions from a fundamental and crop-first perspective is one of the biggest differentiators between those who focus on quality and those who focus on shortcuts. While these fundamental decisions are often costly and not as ‘easy’ as doing things the standard, mass production model, we believe the end quality and consistency stand on their own.

A few examples from our cultivation facilities include:

• Utilizing tissue culture labs to maintain disease and viroid-free mother stock
• A design process for all cultivation facilities that is led by the same team that operates the facilities
• Taking no shortcuts during the design process to ensure food-safe quality construction, redundancy with all equipment and systems that impact product quality, and remote monitoring capability to limit the risk of crop loss
• No foliar IPM applications after day 21 of flower, to prevent any reduction in flower quality
• Strict water, air, and surface sanitation protocols to create the most sterile environment possible
• Irrigation and fertility programs that are strain-specific instead of a ‘one size fits all’ model
• High-end HVAC, humidification, and dehumidification systems in all propagation, grow, dry, cure and vault spaces to ensure ideal growth or storage conditions at all stages of the process to limit

We at Ethos have a firm belief that if we build the right way the first time, evaluate and cultivate strong genetics, and intervene in the crop as little as possible, we will get the best expression of the plant that we possibly can. Quality is not about how much you do, it’s about how little you can do to get in the way of what nature does best.

The THC Trap: Potency as Proxy

The current market rewards high THC numbers, despite growing evidence that potency alone is a poor predictor of consumer experience or therapeutic value. That dynamic creates a loop where growers chase THC-dominant phenotypes, often at the expense of chemovar diversity or minor cannabinoid development. It’s a narrow definition of quality.

In practice, some of the most complex, effective, and enjoyable cultivars are those with moderate THC but robust terpene profiles and balanced cannabinoid ratios. These profiles don’t always win lab label wars, but they tend to resonate more deeply with patients and seasoned consumers alike.

A recent example of Ethos’s efforts to reverse this trend is the introduction of our Landrace Sativa line in Pennsylvania. We worked with landrace genetics (think heirloom varieties that have been cultivated regionally for hundreds of years) from Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Burma, and beyond to deliver a diverse range of THC and CBD, along with unique terpene profiles. These genetics, while not as commercially desirable as 30%+ THC, have delivered medical benefits to our patients that are simply not available from 99%+ of modern genetics.

Reframing “quality” to include a broader set of metrics—total active cannabinoid content, terpene expression, cultivation transparency—is critical if the industry wants to evolve beyond novelty and hype.

Cultivation Ethics and Consumer Trust

When we talk about cultivation standards, we’re really talking about consumer trust. Especially in medical markets, patients rely on consistent, clean, and fully disclosed products. That trust is built, or eroded, in the cultivation facility long before the product reaches retail.

Decisions are made in that facility, including whether to select for certain genetics, how to manage pests, when to harvest, how to cure, and how to accumulate into the final product. Every shortcut carries a consequence. Every tradeoff eventually meets the end user.

In an industry still working to shed its legacy of prohibition and stigma, building that trust through transparency and consistency may be one of the most important outcomes cultivation teams can deliver.

The Case for Systems Thinking in Cultivation

“Soil to Shelf” isn’t a program. It’s a framework, one that encourages cultivators to treat each stage of the process as interconnected and consequential. That includes:

• Environmental inputs: Are systems designed for plant health, or simply speed and yield?
• Genetic decisions: Are phenotypes selected based on their marketability or their full-spectrum potential?
• Post-harvest practices: Is the flower able to stand on its own, or is it being “rescued” in processing?
• Labeling and education: Are consumers equipped to understand what they’re using and why it matters?

There’s no single formula. But systems built with intention tend to produce products with integrity.

Where the Industry Can Go From Here

Cannabis cultivation is at a crossroads. The drive toward scale, automation, and standardization has brought many benefits but also introduced blind spots. As new states legalize and new operators enter the space, there’s an opportunity to pause and ask what kind of industry we are building.

One possible answer: an industry that values how something is grown as much as what is grown. An industry that realizes quality and profit are not at odds with each other, one is dependent on the other. One that educates consumers on more than THC content. And one that views post-harvest remediation not as a default, but as a signal that bigger changes may be needed upstream.

We have a chance to raise the bar for cultivation ethics and product quality. That won’t come from chasing the next trend, but from recommitting to the fundamentals: science, transparency, and respect for the plant.

The post Why Cannabis Cultivation Needs a “Soil to Shelf” Standard appeared first on Cannabis Industry Journal.