{"id":5740,"date":"2023-02-20T07:38:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T07:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/?p=5740"},"modified":"2023-11-01T09:24:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T09:24:52","slug":"the-black-art-of-plant-cultivation-joshua-callahan-speaks-on-agritech-innovations-in-the-yukon-b-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessner.com\/the-black-art-of-plant-cultivation-joshua-callahan-speaks-on-agritech-innovations-in-the-yukon-b-c\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cBlack Art\u201d of Plant Cultivation: Joshua Callahan Speaks on Agritech Innovations in the Yukon, B.C."},"content":{"rendered":"
Since the beginning of civilization, crop abundance has single-handedly determined the fate of a population. The first agricultural revolution began in <\/span>8500 BC<\/span><\/a>, near the Ancient East. Different societies and governing systems have formed around agricultural innovation, while cultures and food customs have emerged depending on each region’s unique crop profile and cultivation methods. Knowledge of how to domesticate and scale the production of crops has made massive populations possible. Since then, agritechnology has constantly been evolving, presenting fascinating opportunities to tackle food shortage problems in different parts of the world. One of which is known as<\/span> plant tissue culture<\/span><\/a>. Plant tissue culture refers to techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues, or organs under sterile conditions using a nutrient culture. <\/span><\/p>\n It is widely used to propagate plants with desirable traits in a way that’s faster than the average growth cycle. This is particularly useful to safeguard native plant species, quickly populate plants required for land restoration, or increase food supply in barren regions. As a former banker, now turned agritech entrepreneur, <\/span>Joshua Callahan’<\/span><\/a>s life changed when he moved north to the Yukon, a mountainous northern territory in Canada bordered by glacier-fed alpine lakes. The effects of the pandemic transcended into barren grocery shelves and bubbling food insecurity. As both an inhabitant and observer, Joshua tells a startup tale containing themes of resilience, community, and optimism.<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer: Tell us a little bit about living in the Yukon.<\/b><\/p>\n Joshua:<\/b> The Yukon is a tough place for food in general. We import around 99% of our food, and we’re on that south-to-north supply chain where things are coming up from Mexico, California, and Washington. Sometimes we get some BC apples if we’re lucky. Climate change has had a lot of impact on that supply chain, especially with droughts, fires, and storms. It puts a lot of communities in peculiar positions regarding how they access food.<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding the way of life, the First Nations residing here have done a great job of keeping their cultures alive. Especially as we’re seeing more reconciliation efforts come forward, there’s been a real revitalization of First Nation culture. A lot of hunting goes on, and many non-First Nations people also participate in that. The traditional way of living helps supplement food costs up here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Interviewer: What inspired you to create your current startup?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n When the pandemic hit, the supply chain started to tighten, and the store shelves started to go bare, it was like, <\/span>“Okay, what can we do to make a difference and an impact? How can we empower people?<\/span><\/i>”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I’m not a technical founder, so there are some challenges, but we have experience in business planning in the cannabis space. I remember solving several case studies about the agriculture space while in university, and something that stood out for me was<\/span> plant tissue culture<\/b>. It’s about creating a scale economy for micro-propagating plants. This is done through duplication; cutting off a plant, taking that little trim, turning it in from 1 to 4 to 16, and so forth. What’s exciting is that you can create 10,000 plants over four to five months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It’s not a well-known process, but it’s been around since 1906. A lot of mystery has been built around this process of creating plants. When we chat with some of the technical experts helping us with this, they would describe it as <\/span>black art<\/i><\/b>. It’s between science and art. There’s this formulation recipe you have to create, and then you put the plant into this little agar solution, which is a growing chemical bath containing nutrients and amino acids.<\/span><\/p>\n