The Post Harvest Lead serves as the critical custodian of product value between cultivation and final manufacturing. This position orchestrates the complex, science-driven processes of drying, curing, bucking, and trimming raw cannabis biomass. Success in this role directly determines the commercial viability of the final product, whether it is premium flower for retail or high-quality input material for extraction. The Lead manages the delicate balance of environmental controls, process efficiency, and team execution to preserve the cannabinoid and terpene profiles developed during cultivation. This individual ensures that every gram of harvested material is meticulously processed, tracked, and secured in compliance with stringent state regulations. The role requires a unique combination of agricultural science, process management, and leadership to prevent catastrophic value loss from issues like microbial contamination, over-drying, or physical degradation of fragile trichomes. The Post Harvest Lead is the final gatekeeper of quality before the product moves into revenue-generating channels.
The operational day begins before the team arrives, with a systematic audit of the environmental conditions in the active drying and curing rooms. The Post Harvest Lead verifies that temperature and relative humidity levels are within the precise ranges dictated by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for specific cultivars. For example, a target of 60°F and 60% relative humidity is confirmed for a new batch entering the slow-cure phase. Any deviation logged by the environmental monitoring system overnight is investigated immediately to prevent the onset of botrytis (gray mold) or the rapid degradation of volatile terpenes. The Lead calibrates handheld moisture meters against control samples to ensure accurate readings throughout the day. This preparation is critical for making informed decisions on when to move product from one stage to the next.
As the post-harvest technicians arrive, the Lead conducts a daily huddle. The day’s production targets are reviewed, detailing which harvest batches are scheduled for bucking (removing flowers from stems) and which are ready for trimming. Specific quality standards are reiterated, perhaps emphasizing a tighter trim for a top-shelf flower product versus a looser trim for biomass destined for hydrocarbon extraction. Technicians are assigned to stations, and the Lead ensures that all personnel are wearing the required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including nitrile gloves to prevent contamination and respirators to mitigate exposure to organic cannabis dust. Throughout the morning, the Lead supervises the production floor, providing real-time coaching to trimmers to maintain consistency and efficiency. Spot checks are performed, examining trimmed flower for unacceptable defects like crow's feet or excessive leaf matter, ensuring the final product meets exacting quality assurance standards.
The midday focus shifts to material flow and data management. The Lead oversees the weighing of freshly trimmed flower and separated biomass. Each weight is meticulously recorded and entered into the state-mandated seed-to-sale tracking system, such as METRC. This process involves creating new package tags for each container, ensuring an unbroken chain of custody that is defensible during a regulatory audit. Accuracy is paramount; a discrepancy of a few grams can trigger a compliance investigation. The Lead then coordinates with the Head of Cultivation to plan the logistics for the next incoming harvest, ensuring adequate drying space is clean, prepped, and available. Concurrently, a handoff is scheduled with the Extraction Manager, preparing a specific batch of cured, tested biomass that meets the lab’s specifications for moisture content and cannabinoid potency.
In the afternoon, the Post Harvest Lead dedicates time to process improvement and documentation. This may involve conducting a time study on a new automated trimming machine to quantify its throughput and impact on trichome preservation compared to hand trimming. The results will inform future capital equipment decisions. The Lead reviews and updates the sanitation logs, verifying that all equipment and processing rooms were cleaned according to protocol at the end of the previous shift, using approved cleaning agents like isopropyl alcohol. The day concludes with a final walk-through of all post-harvest areas, a final check of the environmental controls for the overnight period, and the preparation of a shift-end report for the Director of Operations summarizing total weights processed, labor hours utilized, and any quality or compliance issues encountered.
The Post Harvest Lead's responsibilities are organized into three primary domains of operational control:
The Post Harvest Lead directly influences the organization's financial health and operational stability through several key levers:
| Impact Area | Strategic Influence |
|---|---|
| Cash | Prevents direct revenue loss by eliminating batch failures due to mold, pests, or improper curing, preserving the cash value of harvested inventory. |
| Profits | Maximizes the yield of high-grade, saleable flower from raw biomass, directly increasing the profit margin on each harvest. Efficient processing also reduces labor costs per gram. |
| Assets | Protects the value of the most critical asset—the cannabis inventory itself. Ensures proper operation and cleaning of expensive processing equipment, extending its usable life. |
| Growth | Develops scalable and repeatable post-harvest processes that enable the facility to increase cultivation output and expand production without compromising product quality or consistency. |
| People | Builds a skilled and efficient workforce through effective training and leadership. Reduces employee turnover by creating a safe, organized, and fair working environment. |
| Products | Is directly responsible for the final quality attributes of flower products (aesthetics, aroma, taste) and the consistency of biomass inputs for extraction, which dictates the quality of manufactured goods. |
| Legal Exposure | Minimizes legal and financial risk by ensuring all plant material is tracked with 100% accuracy in the state compliance system, eliminating discrepancies that could lead to penalties. |
| Compliance | Maintains the department in a constant state of audit-readiness through meticulous record-keeping, adherence to SOPs, and rigorous inventory control. |
| Regulatory | Implements operational changes in response to evolving state regulations for cannabis handling, waste disposal, and batch tracking. |
Reports To: This position typically reports to the Director of Operations or the Cultivation Manager, depending on the organizational structure.
Similar Roles: Professionals with experience in roles like Production Supervisor in food and beverage, Cellar Master in winemaking, or Agricultural Processing Foreman possess highly transferable skill sets. These roles all require managing the processing of a sensitive agricultural commodity, with a strong focus on quality control, team supervision, and process efficiency. Titles such as Dry/Cure Manager or Trim Supervisor are common within the cannabis industry and represent a similar functional responsibility.
Works Closely With: This role requires constant collaboration with the Head of Cultivation to coordinate harvest schedules, the Extraction Manager to supply quality input material, the Quality Assurance Manager to ensure all products meet testing and quality standards, and the Compliance Officer to maintain flawless regulatory records.
Success in this role requires hands-on proficiency with a range of technologies and tools:
Top candidates for the Post Harvest Lead role often come from industries that require rigorous process control over sensitive biological products:
The role demands a specific set of professional attributes for success:
The operational parameters of this role are heavily defined by these key organizations:
| Acronym/Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Biomass | The raw, harvested plant material, including flowers, leaves, and stems, before it is processed. |
| Bucking | The process of separating cannabis flowers from the main stalks and stems of the plant after harvesting. |
| COA | Certificate of Analysis. A document from an accredited laboratory that shows the potency and purity results for a specific batch of cannabis. |
| Curing | The final stage of the drying process, where flowers are stored in controlled environments to develop their final cannabinoid and terpene profiles. |
| GMP | Good Manufacturing Practices. A system of processes and documentation that ensures products are consistently produced and controlled according to quality standards. |
| METRC | Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting Compliance. A widely used seed-to-sale tracking software required by many state regulatory bodies. |
| PPE | Personal Protective Equipment. Items such as gloves, safety glasses, and respirators used to ensure employee safety. |
| QA/QC | Quality Assurance / Quality Control. The processes used to measure and ensure the quality of a product. |
| RH | Relative Humidity. A critical environmental metric that must be controlled during drying and curing to prevent mold and preserve quality. |
| SOP | Standard Operating Procedure. A document with step-by-step instructions for performing a routine task to ensure consistency and compliance. |
| Terpenes | The volatile aromatic compounds found in cannabis that contribute to its distinctive smell and flavor. They are fragile and easily lost during improper post-harvest handling. |
| Trichomes | The microscopic, crystal-like glands on the surface of cannabis flowers that produce and store cannabinoids and terpenes. Protecting them is a primary goal of post-harvest processing. |
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