Planting Seeds For the Future: Advanced Cultivators

From construction sites and California grow communities to award-winning cultivation in Massachusetts, Advanced Cultivators is building more than cannabis.

During our conversation live from NECANN, CashColorCannabis sat down with Rick Borges and JB of Advanced Cultivators to discuss the realities of launching a cultivation company in a competitive East Coast market. The conversation explores everything from transforming a vision into a fully operational grow facility to the science behind producing quality flower at scale.

CashColorCannabis: First off, introduce yourselves and tell us what you do. How did you find yourselves in cannabis?

Rick Borges:
I’m Rick Borges. I’m CEO of Advanced Cultivators. My business partner, Steven Ramirez, started Advanced Cultivators.

JB:
I’m JB. I’m head of cultivation for Advanced Cultivators. My son and I also own our own brand, Pride Packs. Pretty much, I run the day-to-day operations for everything related to cultivation.

CCC: Rick, you come from a fire department and construction background. How did you end up in cannabis?

RB:
It’s kind of a long story. Back in 2013, my sister graduated from law school, and I met Steven for the first time. He mentioned cannabis because it was getting big in California. At that point, it wasn’t even on my radar. I didn’t think Massachusetts would ever go for it.

Fast forward to 2019, my nephew got a full scholarship to BU and moved to Massachusetts. He started working for my construction company and kept bringing up cannabis. I told him, ‘Show me two legitimate cultivations and maybe I’ll think about it.’

We visited some facilities in Maine, and honestly, I wasn’t impressed. It looked dirty. Then he flew me out to California to see the facilities. We walked into one facility, and immediately I said, ‘I’ll build it like this.’ That became the standard for us.

CCC: How did you find the facility for Advanced Cultivators?

RB:
It took us about six months to find a location suitable for cultivation. We finally found a place in Lowell. At first, we backed away because the building owner had concerns about banking and loans connected to cannabis.

A couple of months later, he came back to us and said cannabis was the only industry showing interest during COVID. He wanted us there. We signed the lease on July 15, 2020.

CCC: JB, how did you become part of Advanced Cultivators?

JB:
Steve and I were part of a community of growers out in California. He came out wanting to meet growers, and my daughter happened to be his waitress. She ran my nursery back home.

My daughter connected us, and we built a relationship over six months. Eventually, my son came out first, and then I visited the facility in Massachusetts. Seeing what Rich and Steve built from the ground up really intrigued me.

Back home, I ran greenhouse farms and built everything myself, so I respected what they were doing. Two months later, my son and I drove across the country, and I’ve been here for three years now.

CCC: You’re now moving into the dispensary space, too. What’s it like balancing cultivation and retail?

RB:
For us, it was about becoming vertically integrated. We have a 36,000-square-foot building, but only built out 12,000 initially. Our original model was to scale cultivation first.

As the industry evolved, we realized controlling our own retail helped us control pricing and survive volatile markets. Cultivation is the source of everything, and the dispensary became the next evolution for us.

CCC: Cultivation isn’t easy. Talk to us about the amount of work that goes into producing quality flower.

JB:
The plants don’t take a day off. Everybody thinks it’s easy, but it’s tedious work. It starts with having a very clean facility. Everything begins with the mother plants. If your mothers aren’t healthy, your clones won’t be healthy.

A clean environment is everything.

CCC: You’re also award-winning growers. What does that recognition mean to you?

RB:
This is our third year competing, and every year we’ve won. It speaks to consistency. We believe in showing up every day and doing things the right way.

When we built this facility, we designed it with cultivation in mind from the start. A lot of people build first and consult growers later. We built this specifically to stay sterile, control climate, and maximize quality.

CCC: You mentioned being data-driven. How important is technology and data in cultivation?

JB:
We’re extremely data-driven. Many places may have only one sensor in a room. We have multiple sensors per table, so we can monitor everything happening with the plant and environment.

Without data, it’s hard to know how to steer the plant and maximize its potential. The data lets us see watering, climate, plant reactions, and any changes we need to make.

CCC: Do you have a favorite strain?

JB:
I love Pluto. I’m known back home for growing an original Pluto cut that was different. That’s my baby right there.

CCC: How can people support and learn more about Advanced Cultivators?

RB:
Reach out to us on Instagram at cultivatorsadvanced and also visit our website at advancedcultivatorsllc.com.

Instagram really lets people see the personality of our business. We’re not afraid to show our grow rooms and highlight the people we work with.”