The Invisible Variable: Managing Air Quality to Reduce Cannabis Quality and Compliance Risk
Airborne contaminants can quietly affect plant health, product consistency, and compliance. This session explains how cannabis facilities can identify air quality blind spots and use filtration, airflow, monitoring, and testing as proactive quality-man...
10:45 AM - 11:45 AMThu
Cannabis Quality
Speakers
Nikki Sasher
Manager of Environmental Bioanalytics
Cannabis cultivation facilities closely manage nutrients, lighting, temperature, humidity, genetics, sanitation, and integrated pest management. Yet one of the most constant inputs within the cultivation environment is often one of the least understood: air. Airborne particulate, biological contaminants, airflow patterns, and HVAC system performance can influence plant health, pathogen movement, product quality, operational consistency, and compliance outcomes. Without clear visibility into these environmental conditions, facilities may remain in a reactive cycle of responding to contamination events, crop losses, failed testing, and product variability after problems have already developed. This educational session will examine air quality as a proactive component of cannabis quality management. Drawing on controlled-environment research, bioaerosol testing, filtration performance evaluation, and real-world cultivation conditions, the presentation will explain how airborne particles and microorganisms move through grow spaces and how facility design, filtration, airflow, maintenance, and monitoring practices can affect biological and operational risk. The session will also clarify the role of air filtration as an engineering control that works alongside sanitation, integrated pest management, employee practices, and other quality programs. Rather than promoting a single product or prescriptive solution, the presentation will give attendees a practical framework for evaluating environmental risks, identifying system blind spots, and asking more informed questions when working with HVAC, filtration, testing, and facility partners. By treating air as a measurable and manageable input rather than passive background infrastructure, cannabis businesses can make more proactive decisions that support product consistency, compliance readiness, operational resilience, and long-term scalability.