Labat Africa purchased a majority stake in the Eastern Cape Sweetwaters’ facility in 2022 with the aim of producing top quality organic cannabis for export. It did so partly on the strength of the aquaponics system developed by master grower Shannon Booth, who believes this soilless cultivation technique delivers the purest organic flower. He recently took Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber on a tour of the grow-op.

Eastern Cape cannabis production facility Sweetwaters is the first African company to embrace aquaponics as a cultivation technique, and is currently the only one licensed to do so.

Booth (pictured above) says the main benefit of aquaponics is that it produces a completely organic crop, giving it an edge over other grow systems.

What is Aquaponics? This is a cropping system based on co-operation between plants and fish; the term originates from the two words aquaculture (the growing of fish in a closed environment) and hydroponics (the growing of plants usually in a soil-less environment).

Health-conscious consumers are driving the demand for organic cannabis, an international trend that is only growing, says Zeil CEO Arthur de Cordova :

“From Canada to Colombia, the quest for organic cannabis is reshaping markets and regulations, promising a future where quality and consumer safety are guaranteed in every harvest”.

Organics are close to Booth’s heart and aquaponics is the best platform to achieve this:

“Aquaponics is a closed, living biological system; the only additive is food for the fish that power the system; there are no added nutrients or toxins that can enter the loop” he says.

Sweetwaters is located just outside the coastal town of Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape. The SAHPRA-licensed facility is Labat’s only dedicated grow-op and is the foundation for the group’s future expansion. Labat’s other major assets are South African cannabis retail chain Cannafrica and Miami-based Echo Life.

To date Sweetwaters has exported flower to Australia but is yet to develop a consistent export market – the ultimate obvious target destination is Germany where Labat has a foot in the door through its dual listing on the Frankfort Stock Exchange.

For Booth, sales and marketing are out of his hands, and his focus is on producing the best export-quality bud from the plant. This, he says, is best achieved through aquaponics, the system he believes produces the purest, organic cannabis.

“Like people, this plant loves the bad stuff” he says.

“It absorbs all the heavy metals and the pesticides, and all the toxins get held in the flower. Aquaponics is the cleanest growing medium commercially available”. He says although the system is technical and difficult to implement, it becomes easier with experience.

Sweetwaters has four standard ‘greendoor’ tunnels, with irrigation/feeding lines from a master tank which holds the fish – (Red Nine Tilapia and Mozambican Tilapia). There are four full-time staff who are responsible for general crop care.

Booth, who took an aquaponics masterclass course under legendary US grower Steve Raiser, explains that simplistically, the fish get fed and then exhale ammonia which then gets converted into nitrogen which in turn feeds the cannabis.

“Ammonia is heavier than water, so it sinks to the bottom of the tank where there’s a sump. Here the ammonia is diluted and is pumped into the stone media beds which fill up from the base. As the water level rises, nitrifying microbes housed in the stone beds, convert the ammonia into natural nitrogen. The media beds also provide all the trace elements required for the cannabis.”

The cannabis plants, which are cloned from mother plants on site, are planted in media beds with their roots exposed to water which is then pumped back into the master tank.

"We work with 3 plants per square metre per tunnel" says Booth.

“Water is obviously very important, but because it’s a closed loop system in that the water gets recirculated, it’s not as water-intensive as other forms of irrigated cultivation. In fact, the whole system is extremely water-effective”.

The only other factor that controls the product is lighting. Booth uses LED lights until flowering, after which the plants are exposed only to natural light until harvesting.

Booth says the main challenges to look out for in an aquaponics grow op are mold, powdery mildew, botrytis and broad mite. “The hemp latent viroid is something everybody is anxious about, but we haven’t had it”.

“Sweetwaters has the capacity to produce two crops a year, in April and October, but we aren’t quite there yet” he says. “There needs to be more investment in equipment and the facilities before we can achieve that”.

Although there has been discussion about developing an extraction facility at Sweetwaters, the focus right now says Booth, is on producing consistency of high-quality, high-THC medical cannabis flower. The flagship varietal is ‘Exodus Cheese’, also known as ‘Skunk No 1’.

“We’ve got the original 'Exodus Cheese' heirloom which was developed in the UK in the early ‘80’s” says Booth, who emphasizes that the importance of genetics in producing a good crop cannot be underestimated.

Booth and his former partner, Andrew de Jager, originally purchased the farm in 2016 to grow aquaponic vegetables. 

“We built the farm from scratch, clearing all the bush and putting up the buildings” says Booth. They developed Sweetwaters into a successful wholesale business suppling many shops and restaurants in the Eastern Cape with a variety of organic greens. They decided to convert the operation to cannabis in 2020.

Sweetwaters were in the first 10 applications for a cannabis cultivation license. "We decided to apply to pioneer aquaponics cannabis in Africa" says Booth.“This was just before lockdown, but we managed to develop the facility and got our SAHPRA license in 2021”.

Labat bought de Jager’s share in 2022 after exiting from its Northern Cape partnership with Leaf Botanicals. According to SENS, it invested R11,5 million for an 80% stake in Sweetwaters, with the balance held by Booth and well-known East London medical cannabis practitioner, Shiksha Gallow.

Altogether, Labat has since invested millions in Sweetwaters, plans to develop an extraction facility and landrace seedbank on site have been put on hold pending further clarity on what kind of cannabis regulatory system South Africa will introduce.

“The most frustrating part of growing cannabis is that there is no regulatory framework in place yet” says Booth. Once the law allows the commercial trade in cannabis products then Sweetwaters will be able to truly maximize its potential”.

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