Canadian university will teach students how to grow weed

The University of Guelph in Canada is offering a new kind of education – it will teach students how to grow weed. The university is offering online cannabis cultivation courses, as part of its horticulture certificate program.

The "Cannabis Production" course will be aimed at not only people who want to grow it commercially, but also provide lessons on home growing. It will be launched this fall. The university is also launching a second course in "Cannabis Regulation and Quality Assurance", in January 2020.

The first course already has 60 students onboard, while the registration for the second one will start in September.

According to a press release, the course will be taught by the university's postgraduate student Brandon Yep.

"He will teach growing basics, including lighting and irrigation systems, growing media, pest and disease management, and post-harvest curing and packaging. The course will also discuss aspects of botany, cannabis history, the growing Canadian industry and medical uses of the plant," it says.

Such a course may have been unthinkable some years ago when it was illegal. Post legalisation, a lucrative market has opened for cannabis in North America and it is expanding every day. It is booming, and there is an increasing need for trained professionals regularly.

The university has listed some of the entry-level positions that students can opt for after completing the course. These include:

• Quality Assurance Associate
• Production Technician
• Cultivation Technician
• Grower/Master Grower
• Processing Technician
• Packing Technician
• Customer Service Representative
• Retail Store Manager

Instead of depending on independent growers, the industry is slowly taking a professional shape.

The "Cannabis Production" course will cost $545 and run from September 9 to December 1, 2019. This year's enrollment is already complete but, if you are interested in the course, you can still sign up to be placed on the waitlist.

For the "Cannabis Regulation and Quality Assurance" course, you can check out the university's enrollment page to get details.