Fluence Reports Three-Fold Increase in LED Usage Across Cultivation Stages in Fifth Annual “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market”

Developed with Cannabis Business Times, the report underscores cultivators’ growing confidence in LED capabilities

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fluence by OSRAM (Fluence), a leading global provider of energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial cannabis and agriculture production, today released findings from the fifth annual “State of the Cannabis Lighting Market” report produced in partnership with Cannabis Business Times, whose mission is to accelerate the success of legal cannabis cultivators.

The fifth installment of the report reinforces Fluence’s ongoing commitment to exploring the interaction between light and life through market research and in-depth scientific study. The report unveils insights from cultivators throughout North America surveyed by Readex Research, a nationally recognized, third-party research house.

In his opening remarks for the 2020 report, Fluence CEO David Cohen notes the year-over-year rise in LED adoption and “that more growers are placing greater emphasis on scientific research to support product development.”

Revealing tripled LED usage across all stages of cultivation over the last five years, this year’s report reflects on the evolving and maturing cannabis market through yearly comparisons and supporting insights from leading researchers and commercial cannabis cultivators. Key findings include:

• LED usage is the preferred lighting method among cultivators across cultivation stages, with more than 50 percent of respondents reporting LED lighting usage in propagation, vegetation and flowering.
• “Light spectrum” moved to the No. 1 most important factor when purchasing a lighting fixture—tied with light intensity.
• A greater number of cultivators measure how much light their crops receive—72 percent in 2020 compared to 55 percent in 2016.
• 17 percent of cultivators said that ensuring consistent, even lighting across crops is a top operational challenge.

The report’s subsequent insights from commercial growers and industry researchers emphasize the criticality of choosing and implementing a lighting strategy that optimizes plant quality, yield and operational efficiency.

"We’ve worked with LED technology for several years now and its benefits have become increasingly apparent throughout each crop cycle,” David Bernard-Perron, vice president of growing operations for The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD), a leading producer of premium certified organic cannabis. “With LEDs, we have greater control over our entire cultivation system, allowing us to reorganize and optimize the workflow in our vegetative area, significantly increase our facility’s overall efficiency and to stack crops vertically, increasing production surface area. Most importantly, we are cultivating some of our most beautiful, high-quality plants under broad spectrum LED technology.”

The full report—which includes more information on Bernard-Perron’s light intensity research at TGOD as well as a full interview describing Denver-based LivWell’s LED retrofit process—is available on the Fluence website and in Cannabis Business Times’ November issue. For more information on Fluence, visit www.fluence.science.

About Fluence by OSRAM

Fluence Bioengineering, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of OSRAM, creates powerful and energy-efficient LED lighting solutions for commercial crop production and research applications. Fluence is a leading LED lighting supplier in the global cannabis market and is committed to enabling more efficient crop production with the world’s top vertical farms and greenhouse produce growers. Fluence global headquarters are based in Austin, Texas, with its EMEA headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands. For more information about Fluence, visit https://fluence.science.