Christina Lake Cannabis Case Study: Scaling Outdoor Cultivation with GrowerIQ

How does one of BC’s largest outdoor cultivators manage hundreds of thousands of plants?

This Christina Lake Cannabis case study explores how one of British Columbia’s largest outdoor cannabis cultivators transformed their operations with GrowerIQ’s seed-to-sale platform. Christina Lake Cannabis (CLC) needed a robust solution to manage large-scale plant tracking across 132+ acres, coordinate seasonal staffing for up to 120 employees, and maintain strict regulatory compliance with Health Canada requirements. Since adopting GrowerIQ, the Christina Lake Cannabis case study demonstrates remarkable improvements in accuracy, audit readiness, operational efficiency, and cross-site communication.

British Columbia’s Cannabis Industry Landscape

British Columbia has long been recognized as a hub for cannabis cultivation in Canada. The province’s unique climate, particularly in regions like the Okanagan and Boundary areas, provides ideal conditions for large-scale outdoor growing. According to BC’s cannabis regulations, licensed producers must maintain rigorous tracking and compliance standards that align with federal Cannabis Act requirements.

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study is particularly relevant for understanding how BC cultivators navigate the challenges of outdoor production at scale. Located in the southern interior, Christina Lake offers optimal growing conditions with hot summers and access to abundant water resources. This environment enables producers like CLC to cultivate cannabis at a fraction of the energy cost of indoor facilities while still meeting stringent quality and compliance standards.

About Christina Lake Cannabis

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study centers on a licensed producer operating two major cultivation sites in British Columbia’s Boundary region. The primary facility in Christina Lake features over 950,000 square feet of outdoor grow space, while the Midway location—acquired in early 2024—adds approximately 100 acres of additional licensed cultivation area. Together, these sites represent one of Canada’s largest outdoor cannabis operations.

CLC employs up to 120 seasonal workers during peak harvest periods and has recently expanded into year-round trimming and flower production. The company cultivates proprietary strains optimized for outdoor growing conditions and produces both extraction-grade biomass and premium flower products for the Canadian market.

The Challenge: Managing Scale and Compliance

As this Christina Lake Cannabis case study reveals, managing hundreds of thousands of plants required more than traditional tracking methods could provide. Before implementing GrowerIQ, the cultivation team faced significant operational challenges that threatened both efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Key Challenges Identified

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study highlighted several critical pain points that are common among large-scale outdoor cultivators:

• Real-time inventory accuracy: With plants being created and destroyed daily, maintaining accurate counts across multiple locations proved extremely difficult using manual methods.
• Compliance audit preparation: Health Canada audits require complete documentation of every plant movement, destruction, and harvest activity. Preparing for these intensive reviews consumed significant staff time.
• Seasonal workforce training: Each growing season brings new temporary workers with varying technical backgrounds who need to quickly learn compliance-critical processes.
• Multi-site coordination: Operating across two distinct facilities created data silos and communication gaps that hindered operational efficiency.

Master Grower Alley Pearson emphasized the critical nature of accurate tracking in the Christina Lake Cannabis case study:

The compliance burden weighed heavily on the team. Health Canada’s rigorous audit process requires cultivators to demonstrate complete seed-to-sale traceability for every plant. For operations managing hundreds of thousands of plants across multiple sites, this represents an enormous documentation challenge.

Solution: Implementing GrowerIQ’s Seed-to-Sale Platform

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study demonstrates how GrowerIQ’s comprehensive cannabis management software addressed each of these operational challenges. CLC adopted GrowerIQ to centralize data, streamline cultivation workflows, and simplify compliance recordkeeping across both facilities.

GrowerIQ Features Deployed

GrowerIQ’s platform introduced several key capabilities that transformed CLC’s operations:

• Batch-level visibility: Complete tracking of every plant batch from propagation through harvest, with detailed activity logs capturing all movements and treatments.
• Real-time inventory synchronization: Automatic updates ensure plant counts remain accurate across both Christina Lake and Midway facilities, eliminating data discrepancies.
• Audit-ready reporting: One-click export of complete batch histories, destruction logs, and chain-of-custody documentation for Health Canada compliance reviews.
• Customizable workflows: Configurable processes adapted to CLC’s specific cultivation practices and seasonal operational patterns.
• Activity logging: Detailed timestamps and user attribution for every system action, creating an unalterable compliance trail.
• Room and zone management: Hierarchical organization of cultivation areas enabling quick navigation and batch location tracking.

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study shows how quickly staff adopted the new platform:

Perhaps most importantly, GrowerIQ’s intuitive interface enabled even non-technical staff to use the platform effectively. This accessibility proved crucial for a company that relies heavily on seasonal workers who need to be productive quickly.

Adoption Strategy and Workforce Training

Given the scale of CLC’s seasonal workforce, the Christina Lake Cannabis case study required a thoughtful approach to platform adoption. Rather than training all 120+ employees on every system function, the team developed a selective training strategy that balanced accessibility with data integrity.

The company identified which roles required full platform access versus limited functionality. Sensitive operations like plant creations and destructions—which directly impact compliance records—remained restricted to trained supervisors and permanent staff members.

This approach allowed CLC to maintain data accuracy while gradually expanding platform capabilities as staff gained experience. GrowerIQ’s role-based permissions supported this strategy by allowing administrators to configure exactly which functions each user could access.

Operational Impact and Results

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study documents significant operational improvements following GrowerIQ implementation. The platform now supports nearly every aspect of CLC’s cultivation workflow, from initial propagation through final harvest and processing.

Measurable Improvements

Christina Lake Cannabis Case Study: 2024 Business Results

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study culminated in impressive 2024 business results that demonstrate the operational foundation GrowerIQ helped establish. Following the Midway facility acquisition, CLC successfully scaled their operations while maintaining compliance and operational efficiency.

The combined harvest from both Christina Lake and Midway sites yielded approximately 105,000 kilograms of extraction-grade biomass and flower. This production contributed to an 81% increase in inventory value as reported in November 2024. Notably, revenue grew 16% while Cost of Goods Sold increased only 1%, resulting in a 7.9% improvement in gross margin—demonstrating the operational efficiencies gained through better tracking and workflow management.

Partnership and Ongoing Support

The Christina Lake Cannabis case study highlights that effective cannabis software requires more than just technology—it requires responsive human support. CLC emphasized that GrowerIQ’s customer success team proved as valuable as the platform itself, particularly during high-pressure situations.

This responsive support model enabled CLC to resolve issues quickly, minimizing operational disruptions during critical growing and harvest periods. The ability to speak directly with knowledgeable support staff—rather than navigating automated systems—proved essential for a company operating at this scale.

Standout GrowerIQ Features

Throughout the Christina Lake Cannabis case study, several specific platform features emerged as particularly valuable for large-scale outdoor cultivation operations:

Destruction Queue

This feature enables staged plant disposal tracking, allowing CLC to queue plants for destruction and process them in batches. The digital logs align precisely with real-world disposal activities, ensuring Health Canada compliance records remain accurate even during high-volume culling operations.

Split Batch Function

Essential for CLC’s cloning cycles and greenhouse transfers, the split batch function allows operators to divide plant groups while maintaining complete traceability. This capability proved crucial for managing mother plant operations and distributing clones across different cultivation zones.

Room-Level Batch Views

With cultivation spread across dozens of outdoor zones and greenhouse spaces, quick navigation became essential. GrowerIQ’s hierarchical room views enable staff to locate specific batches instantly, dramatically reducing time spent searching for plant groups during daily operations.

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