March 26, 2018 (Source) — BlueOcean NutraSciences Inc. (“BlueOcean” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: BOC) is pleased to provide a Corporate Update on its dissolved CO2 grow trials and strategies to be outlined at its Annual Meeting today at 11 AM at Miller Thompson’s offices at 40 King St W 58th floor.
Shareholders will vote on the Company’s name from BlueOcean NutraSciences Inc to CO2GRO Inc. with the new proposed stock symbol GROW.TSXV. This name change properly reflects a go forward Strategy focused solely on dissolved CO2 foliar spray to accelerate plant growth. An updated March 26, 2018 Corporate Presentation can be found on our website at www.blueoceannutra.ca.
Dissolved CO2 Grow Trials Update
The Company’s grow trial observations to date are successfully pointing to materially faster and larger growth of big leafy plants when given dissolved CO2 at up to 2000 PPM in morning daylight grow periods.
There are four dissolved CO2 grow trials underway for 4-5 weeks with three for licensed cannabis ACMPR’s and one for micro greens. To date, we are seeing incremental growth of indicated cannabis plant leaves versus control with increased green chlorophyll present. Our first two micro green trials showed more modest incremental biomass weight growth as initial micro-green dissolved CO2 trials were performed with no additional nutrients. Our next set of micro-green trials will use incremental nutrients equally to both control and dissolved CO2 foliar sprayed plants to determine if there is a widening degree of relative growth.
Our next several CO2 grow trial candidates have been selected in Canada and the US. The trial sequence will shift to major Canadian cannabis company LP’s that have agreed to trials subject to sorting out the question of foliar spraying dissolved CO2 for LP produced cannabis. Three LP’s have indicated interest in CO2 grow trials. Our ACMPR cannabis grow trial work is providing valuable data in preparation for these LP trials.
In Q2, 2018 indoors, we anticipate CO2 grow trials will start in Michigan and Illinois in cannabis, Ohio in orchids and Michigan in plant plugs and non-rooted seedlings. In Ontario, we expect CO2 grow trials with plant plug and lettuce producers, followed by hemp in New Brunswick and cannabis in Nova Scotia.
Our collaborations with our indoor urban grow container partners are moving forward with the support of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies. Indoor urban grow farms are an important and emerging high growth area.
We are targeting technology suppliers in this urban space and indoor and outdoor irrigation companies to be our agri-industrial partners for expanding our dissolved CO2 foliar spray business roll out.
According to John Archibald, CEO “Our Management team is highly motivated to move the company forward through 2018 as agreed upon with the Board and beyond. We are inspired by the acceptance of growers to date in agreeing to CO2 grow trials as well as early higher growth indications. From a standing start last June 2017, we now have 17 CO2 GRO reps in five Provinces and five US States, Germany and Australia. Our newest proposed Board Member Dr. Gord Surgeoner is an agriculture science and business development expert as are other members of our CO2 GRO rep team that includes three agriculture science related PHD’s, a grape science professor and two former Company CEOs prior to our 2012 IPO.”
About BlueOcean (BOC.TSXV)
The Company’s mission is to accelerate all value plant growth naturally, safely, and economically using its patented advanced CO2 technologies.
The Company’s sole focus is working with its plant growers and agri-industrial partners in proving and adopting its CO2 technologies for specific growers’ plant yield needs.
The CO2 technologies work by transferring CO2 gas into water and foliar spraying for use across the entire plant leaf surface area, which is a semi permeable membrane. The dissolved concentrated CO2 then penetrates leaf’s surface area naturally like concentrated nicotine dissolves through human skin into the bloodstream from a nicotine patch.
Foliar spraying natural nutrients and chemicals on plant leaves has been used for over 60 years by millions of indoor and outdoor plant growers. To date, outdoor growers have not had any way to enhance plant CO2 uptake for faster growth.
The indoor method of CO2 gassing to enhance plant yields has also been used for over 60 years. However, over 50% of the CO2 gas is typically lost and becomes a greenhouse gas. Current greenhouse CO2 gassing levels used are not ideal for worker health and safety.
The Company’s safer CO2 technologies can be used by both greenhouse and outdoor plant growers with minimal CO2 gas lost when CO2 is applied by foliar spray.
Target markets for CO2 foliar spray are the global retail food market at $8 trillion per year (Plunkett Mar 28 2017), the global retail non-food plant market at an estimated $1 trillion per year of which $770 billion/y is tobacco (British American Tobacco website) and the high value legal retail cannabis market that may be $50 billion per year by 2022 (Bay St Analyst estimates).
The Company’s CO2 technologies are commercially proven, scalable and easily adopted into existing irrigation systems. The economic revenue model is compelling to its grower and agri-industrial partners.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on BlueOcean’s expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update them publicly to reflect new information or the occurrence of future events or circumstances, unless otherwise required to do so by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.