RIOCOCO: Consistency & Sustainability Rolled Into One Reliable Option
When you take a puff of your favorite bud, what’s the first thing that crosses your mind?
For me, it’s flavor. After a quick analysis, this thought is followed by the whys and hows. Most of the time, it will take me down the rabbit hole of nutrients and growing mediums, and light sources.
Does your Growing Medium Matter?
To the novice and the newcomers who may not be aware, there are many, many, many factors that culminate in the final buds they see, taste, and experience.
Any time you choose a particular formula for your growing process, any changes or modifications will alter the final product. Sometimes the changes will be subtle and difficult to distinguish. Other times, the changes are profound, altering both the physical and the chemical properties and expressions of the same strain.
Indoor versus Outdoor Grown Cannabis
I love sun-grown cannabis from all the best regions around the world. But can we be real for a moment? Most of us don’t have access to the good stuff! Regulations, distance, and connections are hard to overcome. A blessing and a curse of legalization; easy to access, but difficult and expensive to acquire top quality.
Next to factor in: climate. This is a big one and expensive to overcome. If outdoor is out of the question, you still have a couple of options. Greenhouse and growing under glass or full indoor with control over all of the variables, including light and growing mediums.
What your plants live and grow in directly affects how the final bud will taste. Grow the same strain in different growing mediums, and you can have completely unique experiences from each variation.
Both greenhouse and indoor cultivation require careful consideration for choosing your growing medium. Most of the time, it comes down to how the person running the operation was trained. Humans are creatures of habit, and it’s hard to overcome what you think you already know.
What Grows the Best Cannabis?
I am in no way saying I know best; rather, I am saying there are many factors for someone to consider. There are a million ways to slice an apple, and I’m not one to be picky or pretentious as long as the product performs.
I care how my food is grown and how the animals are raised when I choose to consume them. I also care about the practices used to produce the things I consume… Cannabis included!
That’s why I care about the sustainability practices cannabis operations undertake. I care when they care, and because it matters to me. You can’t argue with the fact that the cannabis industry is so unnecessarily wasteful.
And side rant, I miss the deli-style days of the pre-COVID and pre-recreational cannabis industry.
But when it comes to growing medium, rockwool is so 1990s. I’ve never seen a cube of Rockwool near harvest without algae growth and or mold. Being a single-use product drives up your production costs. This stuff is bad for the environment, being non-recyclable, and breathing in the dust is bad for your health. The fine dust has a similar effect to asbestos. Rockwool naturally has a high pH, and that means it needs to be treated before using it with plants. If you are still using Rockwool, time to up your game!
I sat down with the CEO of RIOCOCO, Shan Halamba, and discussed how RIOCOCO solved two problems with one coconut and ended up a sustainability leader in the agricultural sector.
An Interview with Shan Halaba of RIOCOCO
Creating the Highest Quality Coco Coir
How many companies are operating in over 60 different countries?
I’ll give you the answer. Not many.
Sometimes it takes being in the right place at the right time. Before beginning RIOCOCO in 2004, Shan was working in the IT sector as a project manager in Shri Lanka.
On a plane flight, as fate would have it, Shan sat next to a scientist who was researching natural and organic growing mediums. He had found an incredible product made from the waste of coconuts, but the problem was he needed a factory to produce the final product as scale.
The scientist shared his research and expertise, while Shan was able to use his network and connections throughout the island to turn the dream into reality.
From mountains of coconut husks basking in the Shri Lankan sun to the product you purchase to plant your seeds and transplants in, RIOCOCO owns the entire supply chain. This means each shipment is consistent from batch to batch.
When it comes to coconut coir, not all brands and products are made equally. Quality and consistency matter, and many do not make the cut. Much of this comes down to the fact that the other companies don’t own their own supply chain.
This means instead of one consistent product, you are getting products produced by different companies in different facilities using different equipment and with unknown processes and procedures. The resulting inconsistencies lead to a decrease in the quality and quantity of products produced.
I know firsthand why this matters. Many other companies selling coconut coir source their products from many different facilities and companies, resulting in inconsistent and subpar quality, which affects your final product. While the home grower is able to compensate, it is especially troublesome and costly when you are operating a cultivation site at scale.
Quality and Sustainability at the Forefront
As we dive deeper into what we are consuming and what we don’t want to put into our bodies, I was pleased to hear that the coconut husk used for their growing medium is tested for and doesn’t contain heavy metals, a source often overlooked when trying to produce clean cannabis.
As a person concerned for the fate of the world and for the future of our species, I care about sustainability. I also care about companies that are making an effort to be the best stewards of the planet as possible. If they work with cannabis, they should also be good stewards of the plant.
When it comes to sustainability, RIOCOCO checks a lot of the right boxes. Aside from the small fact that the factories and coconuts are on the other side of the world, their efforts and practices can’t be overlooked.
RIOCOCO uses coconut parts that are typically considered waste, converting them into organic and natural growing mediums for various applications, from home gardening to large-scale commercial use.
Their coco coir products are reusable, recyclable, and biodegradable, reducing waste and the environmental impact of agriculture. Their coco coir blends can be customized for water holding capacity from 53 to 83% allowing growers to dial in and reduce overconsumption of precious water. If you reduce the amount of water used, you also reduce over-fertilization and nutrient runoff, saving you big money in operating costs.
Customer Service as a Standard
The water holding capacity is customizable based on your climate and facility needs. I found this out firsthand when Shan showed up at my cultivation facility here in Arizona. Talk about customer service!
Shan saw a CannaHuman Interview for a grower at my facility. Alongside the grower were rows of beautiful plants in RIOCOCO growing cubes. He was passing through Arizona, coincidentally, and asked if he could swing by. It was a nice personal touch from a busy businessman who took the time to go the extra mile for their customer. It’s part of the reason I interviewed Shan. He went the extra mile, and so will I.
Also, my buddy Damian Solomon has developed a great nutrient line that works hand in hand with RIOCOCO. Every grow I have seen that uses Damian nutrients and RIOCOCO cubes grows amazing cannabis. I don’t think that is a coincidence!
RIOCOCO’s factories are ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certified, showcasing a commitment to quality management and environmental sustainability. These are not easy or simple certifications to obtain and are a testament to their efforts.
I also learned it’s one of the cleanest growing mediums, it’s low in sodium, and great texture for growing psilocybin containing mushrooms! Trust me when I say I know from experience. Yes, yes, yes, I know what you are probably thinking. Although I am known by Weed Jesus, Terpene Whisperer, and many other similar affectionate names, I do know more than just growing, rolling up quality cannabis into massive sausages, and sharing it with friends.
Before jumping ship and hopping over into the regulated cannabis industry, I earned a Biology degree and spent 10 years working in Quality and Compliance in the food, beverage, and OTC (over-the-counter) pharmaceutical industries. Obtaining these certifications takes dedication and commitment from the top down in an organization. I commend Shan and his team for going the extra mile.
From their humble beginnings, RIOCOCO now has over 1000 employees worldwide. Shan grew his business working with some of the largest global agricultural companies (like Village Farms), focusing on their substrate blends for produce, especially strawberries and tomatoes. Curious about the up-and-coming cannabis industry, Shan and his team attend their first cannabis conference, the 2016 MJBIZ Con. The rest, so they say, is history.
