On the 12th of May 2022, Aurora cannabis announced that it would be closing its largest cannabis cultivation facility Aurora Sky in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada for good. This was long considered the jewel of automation for medicinal cannabis manufacture, yet what went wrong in a facility with the capacity to place over 50,000 square meters under cultivation and potential outputs of 100,000s of tonnes of cannabis annually.

The over focus on automation and cannabis standardization was likely the stumbling block. If the focus was primarily on medicinal cannabis then the transition from GPP (Good Production Practices) to EU GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) could have been better mapped. Additionally Aurora Sky had the capacity to easily meet the entire global allowance for the INCB cannabis estimates.

If responsible adult-use cannabis was the goal then, the hyper focus on automation, efficiencies and standardization would have placed Aurora out of touch with most responsible adult-use consumers who are accustomed to illicit cultivators rapidly adapting to the needs of consumers.

Ultimately the closure of Aurora Sky (which is unfortunate) is a lesson to all cannabis operators in the market favoring automation over personalized passion for the cultivation of each and every plant.

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