University of Guelph in Canada Adds New Online Cannabis Production Program

Students of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, can now enroll in their online cannabis production course as a part of their horticulture certificate program. The course targets professionals and home growers, with its 60 slots already full during its first run.

According to the manager for program development with Open Learning and Educational Support Marjory Gaouette, since the legalization of cannabis in Canada in 2018, there has been a huge increase in students interested in cultivation courses.

The course itself covers the basics of cultivation, from lighting, growing media, irrigation systems, and managing disease and pests. The program, designed and taught by Brandon Yep, a master’s student in the School of Environmental Sciences, “will clarify fact from myth and provide scientifically backed information on cannabis production.”

Yep will also discuss groundbreaking studies on cannabis plant production published by the School of Environmental Sciences’ professors Youbin Zheng and Mike Dixon. The instructor Yep is supervised directly by Zheng for his graduate degree as he studies ways to improve aquaponics to cultivate cannabis indoors. His idea is to design a system where waste from fish bred in aquaculture is provided to bacteria, producing nutrients for the plants that are to be grown hydroponically.

However, the University of Guelph is not the only institution to introduce certificate programs and degrees that feature cannabis-related courses. There are also around a dozen other colleges and universities in Canada who have launched their own programs.