b'ready that are being trialed by other companies as well, and were talking to those companies about licensing our genetics. Thats a big piece for us.Auroras cannabis innovation centre in Comox, B.C., is the epicentre of the breeding work that led to the three newly released cultivars.Opened in 2019, the 32,200 square-foot facility is as big as some commercial production facilities. Building this breeding facility was a huge investment. Staffing it with scientists and breeders is not a small commitment. Every gram of can-nabis that we produce here has to be destroyed. We have a research licence, meaning we cant use it for anything else, Pick says. We cant use it for distillate or any other prod-uct. Its dedicated solely to breeding and genetics. It represents a huge commitment to science and innova-tion on our part.All About the QualityAs research progresses, so does the industrys knowledge of the science behind the cannabis plant. A big majority of our effort right now is focused on creating quality products. Thats about chemistry to a large extent, says Greg Baute, senior director of breeding and genetics for Aurora.A lot goes into making a quality cannabis product, Baute notes. Yes, THC plays an important role, but just as key are appearance, flavour and aroma. Aurora works with focus groups to determine what product qualities appeal most to consumers.Cannabis is a lot like wine. People consume it for the aroma, the bouquet. We spent a lot of time literally going out and smelling the flowers, looking for those unique profiles. Every now and then something pops up that just really blows us away.Like Pick, Baute also comes from a seed industry family. His dad founded corn seed company Maizex Seeds. After a stint with Monsanto as a trait geneticist, Baute moved to the cannabis space in order to work in a crop whose genetic secrets researchers are only beginning to unravel.I was working in California when it was legalized there. I ate lunch with plant breeders every day, and so many of us were talking about the research we wanted to do in cannabis. Its decades behind every other crop. The research done in toma-toes and peppers in the 1950s, thats theCharles Pick is vice-president science and innovation for basic sort of stuff were doing right now inAurora Cannabis. Photo: Ema Suvajac PhotographySEPTEMBER 2021 GERMINATION.CA 15'