Leigh Coulter, president of GGS Structures, gives BNN Bloomberg a look at the inner workings of a cannabis growing facility. Marijuana producers like CannTrust and others are increasingly moving toward greenhouse facilities to keep costs down.

Leigh Coulter, president of GGS Structures recently met with BNN Bloomberg to discuss how the cannabis industry is moving forward as well as the prominent role GGS has played as a trusted supplier in the commercial cannabis industry.

The interview took place in Vaughan at CannTrust, a Canadian medical cannabis producer.

Established nearly 40 years ago, GGS has earned a reputation as a global leader in commercial horticulture supply. In 2013, Leigh created a division within the company dedicated entirely to the legal cannabis industry and has remained on the forefront of the legal marijuana movement. As mentioned in the interview, GGS has worked with most of the major producers in North America, including CannTrust.

Leigh made note that many traditional growers are switching over to cannabis because of the high value of cannabis. As a high value commodity, cannabis cultivation requires advanced systems from temperature control to humidity, and GGS has been able to provide these top quality systems for some of the top producers.

“It’s our job to make sure our customers have the best systems so they can control it and they can grow it,” said Leigh. “It’s their job to hire the best people for it. So it really is a combination of putting the right systems in place from the beginning and having the right people to run the operation.”

Leigh also suggested that as the industry moves forward, it’s likely that we’ll see more producers choosing more cost-effective options for growing cannabis.

“Operational costs for a greenhouse are definitely lower than the operational costs for an indoor facility. I think you’ll see that a lot of the forward thinking cannabis growers who may have started out with indoor facilities are moving toward greenhouse operations,” said Leigh.

As a Canadian company, GGS has been heavily involved with the legal medical cannabis industry in Canada to helping producers prepare for the legal recreational market.

 “As we’re seeing now, the whole world is changing and everyone is looking to Canada. Canada is the first G7 nation that’s going to be recreationally legal to grow cannabis. Many of the LP’s are expanding globally now. We’ve always sold globally through horticulture systems, so we’ve already had people from Uruguay, Israel, Germany and Africa coming and seeing us.”

When asked if Leigh has ever thought about entering the industry as a grower herself, she responded, “My success is my customers’ success, so I’m happy to be the supplier to the most successful cannabis growers.”