Agricultural Processing Equipment

Learning curve and preparing for medical marijuana industry

Growing up in a Colonial home in Downingtown, Pa., Alessandro Cesario cultivated an interest in the family garden, trying to become “in tune” with plants and insects. By the time he was 16, he knew he wanted to work with plants with Agricultural Processing Equipment in his career.

Specifically, one plant: cannabis.

So he spent four years at Delaware Valley University, taking courses in hydroponics and working in greenhouses and on farms. His ambition was no pipe dream: After he graduated in 2013, Mr. Cesario made the jump from vegetables to cannabis — moving to Las Vegas to become the director of cultivation for Desert Grown Farms.

“It’s not like you’re walking into a cubicle, that’s for sure,” said Mr. Cesario, 26, who said he works 80 to 90 hours a week managing plants in a 58,000-square-foot warehouse. “Everyone’s super stoked to be here and just to be around the plants.”

Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, which is one of the top providers of agriculture degrees in the state, offers students a chance to study hydroponics — a system for growing plants without soil and a technique used in the cannabis industry. By working with such plants as basil, students can gain specialized skills that can be applied to jobs in the medical marijuana industry.

As applicants young and old flood the marijuana job market in states across the country — Pennsylvania is now getting its turn — millennials such as Mr. Cesario are among the first generation of college graduates who can job-hunt in the legal marijuana industry.

“We’re getting deluged with resumes,” said John Pohlhaus, CEO of Franklin Labs, a grower-processor Agricultural Processing Equipment in Reading.

Pennsylvania is one of 29 states that has legalized medical marijuana. Eight others have approved recreational marijuana, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) even introduced a bill last week to legalize medical pot on the federal level. In New Jersey, medical marijuana is legal, and a recreational bill was introduced in May, although Gov. Chris Christie has vowed never to sign it.