CROP Infrastructure (CROP.C) built on its brain trust today, bringing in two expert plant scientists to lead the company’s new genetics lab.
Patrick McLoughlin will act as director for CROP’s newly-minted division of micropropagation and genetics (DMG) while Zachary Lindskoog has agreed to take on the role of production manager.
McLoughlin and Lindskoog, knee-deep in academic achievement, bring a tremendous amount of cultivation expertise to CROP’s operations.
McLoughlin studied plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University and went on to get his masters in horticulture from Mississippi State University in 2018. The MSU alumnus has experience breeding mildew-resistant crops as well as the study of plant-pathogen interactions.
In addition to his academic credentials, McLoughlin has worked with the breeding of hops (Humulus spp.), which is in the same family of plants as cannabis, giving CROP’s lab an edge when it comes to the nascent world of cannabis genetics.
Lindskoog attended the College of Agriculture and Life Science at Cornell University where he received his bachelor’s degree in plant breeding and genetics with cum laude honors.
During his time at Cornell, Lindskoog acted as lab production manager for a local tissue culture operation.
Upon graduation, Lindskoog created the Cornell Plant Transformation Facility and was appointed lab manager, quickly guiding operations toward financial self-sufficiency.
Lindskoog has six years under his belt developing in-vitro protocols with numerous crops.
Beyond his extensive micropropagation laboratory experience, Lindskoog also has years of field breeding to his name and is well-versed in controlled pollinations, organoleptic trait scoring, molecular markers, inbred lines and other modern breeding techniques.
McLoughlin and Lindskoog will help prepare CROP for the 2019 CBD production season and work on developing new high-grade CBG and CBN genetics to further seed the company’s plant portfolio.
“These are key hires at CROP’s 49% owned CBD farm where advanced propagation techniques will bring costs down significantly for the 500,000-pound per year supply agreement and the estimated 3,000,000 lbs of 2019 production, as well as benefit our expansion plans overall,” said Michael Yorke, CROP CEO.
This news follows CROP’s announcement last week that it would be making 100,000 premium Moon Rock Cones at one of its California subsidiaries using finished cannabis from the company’s Humboldt County farm.
CROP shares popped $0.01 on moderate volume today to hit $0.31 per share by afternoon trading.
Currently the company has 132,985,453 issued and outstanding shares with a market cap of $41.22 million.
–Gaalen Engen
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